Bilateral trade between the region and the North American country totaled US$ 1.553 billion in 2022, surpassing the billion mark for the first time.
By Viviane Monteiro
The Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada (CCBC) aims to increase business opportunities between Canada and the southern states of Brazil – Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná and Santa Catarina – and, at the same time, encourage bilateral trade of high-value-added products. Currently, business is led by commodities, both in exports and imports.
In 2022, the main Canadian products imported by the southern region of the country were fertilizers, while the main products exported from Southern Brazil to Canada were meat and edible offal, according to CCBC data.
Arminio Calonga, responsible for the Business Development area at CCBC, defends diversifying the business agenda and expanding partnerships to increase trade between Canada and the southern region of Brazil, one of the country’s main agricultural regions, especially for livestock and technology production to increase productivity in the field.
“It is important to include products and services with higher added value in the bilateral foreign trade agenda”, he recommends.
Technological hubs
Calonga notes that the southern region of Brazil has major technology hubs that offer cutting-edge technological products, mainly in Florianópolis, Curitiba, Londrina, Maringá, Toledo, Caxias do Sul, Blumenau, Joinville, Gramado, and Porto Alegre. At the same time, Canada, one of the countries that stands out the most in terms of technology and innovation, is interested in attracting these businesses and making new partnerships.
“The areas of technology, R&D, new product development, research, and artificial intelligence are sectors with a lot of potential and that we at CCBC always take a good look at”, he says.
There are also opportunities for bilateral business in smaller niches, in the food sectors (fresh fruit) and beverages that, equally, have added value and are produced by small and medium-sized entrepreneurs in the southern region of Brazil and can be exported to Canada.
“This is also a nice opportunity. The South is seen as an important partner for Canada and CCBC seeks to stimulate these bilateral relations a lot”, he highlights.
For the executive, the southern region of Brazil can use Canada as a “Hub” and, at the same time, Canadians can use Brazil as a consumer market. “There are 38 million inhabitants in Canada, versus over 200 million in Brazil. The Chamber’s idea is to increase these businesses more and more, making the south of the country look more to Canada and, in parallel, making Canada look more to the south, stimulating commercial exchange between the two countries.”
Among some of CCBC’s actions to stimulate this business is the proposal to open a chapter in the south. In addition, CCBC has partnerships with Invest Paraná and has members in the south, in addition to the entity’s willingness to encourage these businesses in all areas. This year, for example, CCBC will carry out nine missions to Canada. “We hope to count on companies and participants from the south for this and other activities, stimulating southerners to sell in Canada”.
Trade between South of Brazil and Canada to hit record high in 2022
Under the influence of record imports of fertilizers from Canada to the southern region of Brazil, the trade flow, which represents the total of exports and imports, between the two parties reached a record in 2022. The figure amounted to US$ 1.553 billion and surpassed the billion-dollar mark for the first time. It was almost double the US$ 777.3 million in 2021.
In the case of exports, products from the Southern region of the country shipped to Canada amounted to US$ 344.7 million last year, up from US$ 249.7 million in 2021. On the import side, Canadian product landings for the three southern states of Brazil totaled $1.2 billion, the highest value in the series driven by fertilizer imports. This was almost double the US$ 527.6 million recorded in Canadian imports to southern Brazil in 2021.