Competitividade da castanha-de-caju no mercado internacional : comparação entre Guiné-Bissau e Brasil no período 2001 - 2016

Abstract

The paper analyzes the competitiveness of the international cashew nut market between Guinea-Bissau and Brazil. In addition, the impact and obstacles faced by agribusiness in the international market with exports of cashew nuts in the years 2001-2016 are analyzed. Several indicators were calculated to identify the potential for Guinea-Bissau's competitive insertion in the international market, indicators that are indices of revealed comparative advantages, indexes comparative advantages revealed symmetrical, indexes Relative position of the market, intra- index of export concentration by product and destination. The indicators were calculated for the period 2001 to 2016. The results showed that Guinean exports are relatively concentrated in few products and destinations as well. Guinean foreign trade is characterized as being basically of the inter-industrial type. Guinea-Bissau only exports this product, the percentage of processing is sufficient for domestic consumption only. Guinea-Bissau has a higher degree of specialization than unity, that is, it has a comparative advantage over cashew nuts. The results still show a reasonable position in the market, but in recent years there has been a slight increase in PMR values, which can be explained by the fact that the country is entering the Vietnamese and Brazilian markets. The results also showed that commercialization is due to conjunctural and structural factors. The two chains (chestnut and pseudofruit) present large gaps in several aspects and stages of the chain compared to Brazil, and these gaps mostly occur mainly in the nut production process. Thus, it becomes apparent that the two chains are inefficient. Small and medium-sized enterprises or factories work cooperatively and have a central unit for finishing their products and from there they export to the consumer market, they do not function as a cluster because they are not located in a place but as an APL, they work individually exporting their production directly. Regarding the evolution of the production process, Brazil assumes a prominent position in relation to Guinea-Bissau due to the following factors: organization of the sector, 100% cashew nut and stalk processing, sale of Brazil nut cashew, product qualification, export destination countries with higher per capita income, it is noteworthy that although Brazil has been showing declines in its production, its research and development base (Embrapa) has supported national cashew culture in the elimination of obstacles and losses faced during production making it possible to use 100% of the product.