$Unique_ID{bob00152}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Brazil
Brazil in Brief}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Embassy of Brazil, Washington DC}
$Affiliation{Embassy of Brazil, Washington DC}
$Subject{brazil
partido
party
south
land
agricultural
agriculture
amazon
millimeters
products
see
tables
}
$Date{1990}
$Log{See Table 1.*0015201.tab
See Table 2.*0015202.tab
See Table 3.*0015203.tab
}
Title:       Brazil
Book:        Brazil in Brief
Author:      Embassy of Brazil, Washington DC
Affiliation: Embassy of Brazil, Washington DC
Date:        1990

Brazil in Brief

President:

     Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello

Government:

     Under the Constitution, Brazil is a Union of 26 States, and a Federal
District. The President is elected for a five-year term by direct vote; the
National Congress is composed of two Houses: the Senate, whose members serve
for an 8-year term, and the House of Representatives, elected for a 4-year
term.

Main Political Parties:

     Partido da Reconstrucao Nacional (PRN)
(National Reconstruction Party)

     Partido do Movimento Democratico Brasileiro (PMDB)
(Brazilian Democratic Movement Party)

     Partido da Frente Liberal (PFL)
(Liberal Front Party)

     Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT)
(Workers' Party)

     Partido Democratico Trabalhista (PDT)
(Democratic Labor Party)

     Partido Democratico Social (PDS)
(Social Democratic Party)

     Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro (PTB)
(Brazilian Labor Party)

     Partido Socialista Brasileiro (PSB)
(Brazilian Socialist Party)

     Partido Comunista do Brazil (PC do B)
(Communist Party of Brazil)

     Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB)
(Brazilian Social Democratic Party)

     Partido Liberal (PL)
(Liberal Party)

Capital:

     Brasilia (Pop: 1,803,478 - urban and rural)

Area:

     8,511,965 sq. Km - (3,286.487 sq. Mi.)

Populaiton:

     150.051.784 (1989)

Annual Growth Rate:

     2.20% (1980-1985)

Density per Km2:

     16 inhabitants (1987)

Metropolitan Areas:
(over 1,000,000 inhabitants [1989])

     Sao Paulo:         10,9
     Rio de Janeiro:     6,1
     Belo Horizonte:     2,3
     Salvador:           2,0
     Fortaleza:          1,7
     Curitiba:           1,4
     Recife:             1,3
     Porto Alegre:       1,3
     Belem:              1,2

Monetary Unit:

     Cruzeiro (Cr$)

Language:

     Portuguese

Religion:

     Roman Catholic (91%)

Geography:

     Crossed by the Equator in the North and by the Tropic of Capricorn in
the South, Brazil forms a single unbroken land mass, except for a small
number of islands, the largest of which is Fernando Noronha. At its widest
(4.336 km - 2,695 mi.) Brazil measures almost the same as it does at its
greatest distances from North to South (4.320 km. - 2,685 mi.); it is bathed
in the Northeast, East and Southeast by the South Atlantic Ocean, and in the
West, Brazil is bordered by the South American Countries, except Ecuador and
Chile; situated in the eastern part of South America, Brazil covers a total
area of 8.511.965 sq. Km. (3,286,487 sq. mi.); this is equivalent to 1.7% of
the total surface area of the globe, rather less than 1/7 of the dry land,
47.3% of South America.

     The landscape of Brazil is dominated by two prominent features, the
Amazon River and the Central Highlands, a plateau that rises southward from
the great river. The Amazon, the world's mightiest river in terms of flow of
water and second longest after the Nile, cuts laterally across Brazil's
northern region, and countless tributary streams drain a vast basin that takes
in three-fifths of the national territory. The entire basin, including areas
in neighboring countries, supports a tropical rain forest that provides
natural replacement for 15 percent or more of the world's oxygen.

     Most of the Central Highlands consist of a tableland varying in altitude
from 300 to 500 meters above sea level, broken by a number of low mountain
systems and cut by deep valleys. The highlands ascend steeply in the east
forming an escarpment, where several peaks attain an altitude of 2,500 meters
or more, and then drop precipitously to a narrow Atlantic coastal plain.


[See Table 1.: Regions of Brazil]

Climate:

     There are three major climatic regions. Almost all of the North, the
coastal plain as far south as the state of Rio de Janeiro, and the northern
half of the Central Highlands are tropical areas with heavy rainfall and
elevated temperatures. A second region lies in the southeast portion of the
Central Highlands and along the coast to the southern portion of the state
of Sao Paulo. Wind movements in the uplands and ocean currents on the coast
temper the effects of the latitude and maintain subtropical climatic
conditions. The South constitutes a third region, where the predominantly
temperate climatic conditions are affected by Antarctic air currents when the
sun is north of the equator.

     Except in the South, the seasonal change in temperatures is not extreme.
It is along the northern coast, straddling the equator, that the highest
temperatures have been most consistently recorded, and temperatures in the
Northeast average several degrees higher than those in the interior of the
Amazon Basin. Far to the south and on the rim of the tropics, the city of Rio
de Janeiro has an average mean temperature of 24 C, less than 3 C lower than
that of Manaus on the Amazon. Summer temperatures in the South do not differ
markedly from those of the Southeast, but winter readings are much lower
there, and frosts occur.

     In most areas, seasons are marked by rainfall cycles determined by
latitude and elevation. For example, rainy seasons vary from October to March
in Sao Paulo, April to October in Recife, and January to June in the Amazon
lowlands. Summer outside the equatorial belt is from December to February.
Winter is a relatively drier season. Over much of the country, annual
precipitation ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 millimeters. Exceptions are the
Amazon Basin and northern coast, where annual rainfall regularly exceeds 2,000
millimeters, and the backcountry (sertao) of the Northeast, which experiences
frequent droughts and where rainfall is frequently less than 1,000 millimeters
a year.

     The "sertao" lies in the so-called polygon of drought that encompasses
more than 10 percent of the country's territory. Rainfall deficiency there is
reflected in occasional drought, however, rather than perennial inadequacy.
The area averages about 750 millimeters annually, but a locality receiving
1,000 millimeters or more in one year may get as little as 200 millimeters of
rain the next. Moreover, the rate of evaporation is very high. Floods and
drought are equally common, and about the only certainty is that rain will not
fall during the dry season, a period that at a minimum spans the months from
July to January.

Gross Domestic Product:

     USA$billion 315 (1988)

     USA$billion 325 (1987)

     USA$billion 282 (1986)

     USA$billion 229 (1985)

Per Capita Income:

     US$2,300.00 (1987)

Annual Export:

(FOB)
(in billion dollars)

     US$33.8 (1988)

     US$26.2 (1987)

     US$22.3 (1986)

     US$25.6 (1985)

Annual Import:

(FOB)

     US$14.7 (1988)

     US$15.0 (1987)

Major Industrial Products:

     Steel, transportation material, textiles, food products, mechanicals,
petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals.

Other Major Products:

     Coffee, rice, cocoa, beef, soy, oranges.

Natural Resources:

     Iron ore, manganese, bauxite, nickel, other industrial metals.

Exports:

     Coffee, soymeal, iron ore, transportation equipment, sugar, boilers,
machinery and mechanical appliances, orange juice, footwear, leather goods.

Imports:

     Petroleum, machinery, electrical machines, chemicals, transportation
equipment, cereals.

Major Trading Partners:

     USA, W. Germany, Switzerland, Japan, England, France, Argentina, Mexico,
Canada.

Agriculture:

     From the earliest years of the colonial era, agriculture has held center
stage in the economy. Plantation agriculture was the country's link to the
world economy. Large holdings dedicated to monocultural export crop production
and dependent on slave labor formed the basis of the agrarian economy.
Beginning with sugar cultivation in the sixteenth century, economic trends
have been dictated by a series of "boom-bust" agricultural cycles. Cotton,
cocoa, rubber, and coffee followed sugar. In each case Brazil brought reserves
of land into cultivation, specialized in the export crop of the hour, and
attained a position of dominance in the world market only to be supplanted by
other producers and to suffer economic reverses as world prices declined.
"Booms" were inexorably followed by "busts" and a period of stagnation until
another "boom".

     Agriculture in the 1980s offered both contrasts and continuities with
this pattern of development. The agricultural sector continues to play a
significant role in the economy, but neither in terms of domestic production
nor exports did a single crop dominate the way sugar, coffee, or rubber had at
their apexes. The government had aggressively pursued a policy of
industrialization and diversification of exports. Policymakers relied on
agriculture to provide the food, fuel, and labor for industrial growth.

     In the 1970s soybeans outpaced Brazil's traditional agricultural income
earners: coffee, cocoa, and sugar. There was as well a general rise in the
number of agricultural products exported. Largely as a result of government
incentives favoring processed goods over raw crops, the volume, value, and
variety of semiprocessed and manufactured agricultural products increased
substantially. The notable changes in output tended to divert attention from
the long-term continuity in the structure of agriculture. Large landholdings
retained their dominant position. Land use remained extensive; gains in
productivity were limited. Export and commercial crops garnered a
disproportionate share of the best land, as well as of improved inputs,
research funding, and developed infrastructure. There has been a general
neglect of most common foodstuff items: manioc, corn, and beans. In the mid
1970s the government started funding centers for research on specific food
crops. As a whole, however, what Brazilians ate was grown by small farmer's
on marginal land under primitive conditions; what they exported was the domain
of large landowners holding the most desirable land and having access to
modern agricultural technology.


[See Table 2.: 20 Main Products Exported in 1987 to: USA Prodcuts Listed in
the Descending Order of Exports]

[See Table 3.: Brazil-USA: Trade Figures Historical Statistics - (In US$
Million) Period: 1970/1987]