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 The participation of micro and small companies in Brazilian exports has been rising year after year. In 2007, the value exported by this sector broke historic records, reaching US$ 2.1 billion, up 12.4% over the previous period and presenting average growth of 11.4% over the last five years.
The average individual value exported by companies in the sector has also been growing firmly in recent years, reaching US$ 163,900 in 2007, up 12.5% over the previous year and posting average growth of 10.5% over the last five years.
This and other figures referring to the performance of Brazilian exports over the decade are included in the just-released study Micro and Small Companies in Brazilian Export - Brazil and States - 1998/2007.
Ordered by the Sebrae (Brazilian Service of Support for Micro and Small Enterprises) to the Foreign Trade Studies Center Foundation (Funcex), the study is executed based on figures supplied by the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex) and other organizations.
The base collects and also crosses with figures by other organizations information about all the 13,000 or so micro and small companies in Brazil that exported in the period between 1998 and 2007.
The document should serve as an important reference for internationalization activities of micro and small companies promoted by the Sebrae and by partner institutions.
"This study is the consolidation of some tendencies that have been crystallizing since 1998. Through it, we may identify what are the difficulties faced by companies to stay on the market, the existing opportunities and the successful experiences," said the Strategic Management manager at the National Sebrae, Pio Cortizo.
Accompanying the general rhythm of Brazilian exports, small companies operated specially in the fields of industry and trade in 2007. Thus, 59% of exporters in 2007 (7,670 enterprises) belonged to the field of industry and 35% (4,550 companies) were in the trade field.
Among the micro companies there was a reduction in the number of firms in all sectors, except for agriculture. The opposite took place among small companies, with a larger number of companies in all cases, including the industrial field, but with an exception in agribusiness.
With regard to the value exported, the industrial sector answered to 60.1% of the value exported by micro and small companies in 2007, which represents a total of US$ 1.3 billion. Trade came in second place, with 33.6% of the total exported, and in last came the service sector, with 0.2%.
Among the special micro companies (which employ little and export much), industrial firms answer to 60.1% of the total, against 33.9% of commercial organizations. The value exported by these companies was divided into similar shares among the industrial and trade sectors, 49.4% and 42.8% last year.
The number of micro and small export companies has not been accompanying the growth of export volume. This figure remained stable in 2007 when compared to 2006 (12,986 against 13,001). In this period there was growth of just 1.6% in the number of exporters and reduction of 2.3% in the number of micro companies.
According to the study, this has been taking place since 2004, when a reduction in the number of micro and small companies contrasted with the relative stability in the number of special organizations and of medium firms and there was an increase of 5.1% in the number of large exporters.
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