Principais fatores responsáveis pela expansão da soja no Brasil: Main Factors for Soy Expansion in Brazil

This article has as objective to identify the historical and economic facts that explain the reasons that had taken the soy industry – a good of low consumption in Brazil – to be the principal item in the Brazilian agricultural exports. The policy of producing commodities with more aggregated value in Brazil is a result of the country’s insertion in the international economic order established in Breton Woods. The soy production in Brazil was one instrument of foreign money attraction, in order to raise funds to policies fighting the points of Brazil’s development strangulation - such as the policy for import substitution. The soy production was supported, in the decades of 60 and 70, by the “desenvolvimentismo” policy, and, in the 80’s, by the foreign money attraction policy keeping the balance of payments. Despite the North American competition, it is distinguished that the Brazilian production tends to benefit from the economic growth of countries such as China and India; and from the East Europe trade openness. Este artigo tem como objetivo identificar os fatos históricos e econômicos que explicam as razões que levaram o complexo soja, produto de baixo consumo no país, a ser o carro-chefe das exportações agrícolas brasileiras. O cultivo de commodities de maior valor agregado no Brasil resulta da inserção do país na ordem econômica internacional estabelecida em Bretton Woods. A introdução da produção da soja no país foi um dos instrumentos de geração de divisas, de modo a financiar políticas para o desenvolvimento do país, como a política de substituição de importações. A produção de soja encontrou apoio, nas décadas de 60 e 70, no desenvolvimentismo e, a partir da década de 80, na atração de divisas estrangeiras para o equilíbrio do balanço de pagamentos. Destaca-se que a produção nacional tende, apesar da concorrência norte-americana, a se beneficiar do crescimento econômico de países populosos, como China e Índia e da abertura comercial de países do Leste Europeu.     Abstract: This article has as objective to identify the historical and economic facts that explain the reasons that had taken the soy industry – a good of low consumption in Brazil – to be the principal item in the Brazilian agricultural exports. The policy of producing commodities with more aggregated value in Brazil is a result of the country’s insertion in the international economic order established in Breton Woods. The soy production in Brazil was one instrument of foreign money attraction, in order to raise funds to policies fighting the points of Brazil’s development strangulation - such as the policy for import substitution. The soy production was supported, in the decades of 60 and 70, by the “desenvolvimentismo” policy, and, in the 80’s, by the foreign money attraction policy keeping the balance of payments. Despite the North American competition, it is distinguished that the Brazilian production tends to benefit from the economic growth of countries such as China and India; and from the East Europe trade openness.  Key words: Brazilian Economy, Soy, Commodities, Trade.     Recebido em: março/2019. Aprovado em: novembro/2019