Interesting sectors

The Netherlands is one of the biggest trade partners of Brazil and has an excellent reputation in various sectors of Brazil. The wide variety of sectors includes many sectors that are very attractive for investment. In this section a list of these sectors can be found, with a detailed description of the sectors we considered most interesting for Dutch organizations.

Infrastructure
The growth of the Brazilian economy has put great pressure on the infrastructure of the country. Moreover, the fact that the country will organize two of the largest sporting events in the world, the World Cup football in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016, has brought about an urge to modernize the infrastructure. Not only the airports and road network need to be extended but also, only a fraction of the inland waterways are currently being utilized. With respect to the seaports, Brazil transports 700 million tons of goods annually, 90 percent of the country’s exports. The Brazilian government expects this amount to rise by 50 percent over the years 2011-2016. This tremendous growth demands cutting edge ports and services, and the Brazilian government has made the modernization of the seaports a top priority. There are opportunities here for Dutch companies in consulting and training activities as well as information exchange, investment in new rails, roads, port construction, dredging, floating docks and terminals as well as in the maritime supply industry.

Maritime
Next to the development of the infrastructure, there is also a major shipbuilding industry in Brazil, which offers interesting opportunities for Dutch firms. The discovery of pre-salt oil fields has resulted in an extraordinary boom in demand for oil tankers, support vessels andoil platforms. Petrobrás alone already announced investments of USD 224 billion in 2010-2014 and Transpetro has expressed a demand for at least 42 oil tankers. In order to keep up with the demand, the existing shipyards need to be modernized and expanded and the sector is in great need for skilled personnel. Moreover, the sector is eager to cooperate with foreign firms in order to obtain access to outside knowledge and technologies. This poses interesting chances for Dutch firms not only because of the expertise they have in this area but also since Brazil claims that ships must have a ‘local content’ most of the times of at least 40 percent of the weight of a ship. Cooperation with Brazilian firms can thus be highly beneficial for both parties.

World Cup Football 2014 and Olympic Games 2016

The World Cup and the Olympic Games can be seen as a way to spur economic growth. A growth of 15 percent is expected in tourism, 50 percent in air travel, 30 percent in the catering sector and insurance sector, and about 25 percent in the food sector.

It can be said that these events provide great opportunities for Dutch companies. Infrastructure, IT-support, Crowd-control, food supplement and artificial turf are just some examples of products or services that offer opportunities for companies. The most interesting sectors for Dutch companies regarding the World Cup Football and the Olympic Games in Brazil will be:

-Delivering sports facilities
-Sports, entertainment and merchandising
-Safety
-Hotels, tourism and catering
-ICT and telecommunication
-Infrastructure
-Sanitation

Sustainable energy

Brazil is very active in the sustainable energy sector, and its government has created a 10-year energy plan, from 2010 to 2019, with an emphasis on sustainable energy, namely Wind, Biomass, and Hydroplants. One of the goals is to triple the amount of renewable energy in Brazil by 2020.

Brazil gets its energy from several different sources, especially from water as Brazil has the largest capacity for water storage in the world. Currently, hydroelectricity covers 80 percent of the electricity demand in Brazil. Brazil is also the second biggest producer of bio-ethanol in the world with a production of 40 percent of the total production in the world. Another source of energy in Brazil is solar energy; another area of potential for companies investing in Brazil. Brazil is not highly developed yet in this area, but possibilities in this land are great.

Food processing industries

With its broad set of agricultural resources Brazil nowadays is one of the most important countries in Food & Agri. Several products, like beef, pork, poultry, coffee, sugar, soy, corn and fruit are exceedingly important for the country’s exports. The potential of this sector is enormous and Brazil realizes more and more that they can play an important role in the world food supply. The government therefore wants to substantially increase the export of Food & Agri products in the coming years. These plans lead to an increase in demand for and investment in new machinery and technologies that save costs and further improve the quality of the products. Brazil realizes that productivity and quality improvement will proof to be essential for the role the country plays in the world wide supply of Food & Agri. However, Brazil cannot provide itself with al these innovative resources, and chances for Dutch companies arise. Besides all this, the way Brazil uses its agricultural products to produce bio fuels is exceedingly interesting for Dutch organizations that are interested in sustainability issues.

Oil and Gas

The oil and gas industry plays an important role in the reinvention of the marine engineering because of the increased demand of modern technology. Despite competition, the demand of products and services that need oil and gas also keeps growing in Brazil. As a result, it is expected that Brazil will increase its gas and oil production the coming years. The government company Petrobrás and its daughter-company Transpetro have placed orders of a great amount of ships. The Netherlands is a big player in the extraction and production of the Brazilian oil industry, so there is great potential for companies in this area.  

Other high potential sectors include:

-Water purification
-Services
-Medical sector
-Creative sector
-Chemicals
-Electronics
-Clothing and textile
-Cosmetics