South America and South Atlantic Islands

Brazil
Last reviewed: 7 January 2009

Country information

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TRADE AND INVESTMENT

Trade and Investment with the UK

Brazil is the UK's most important trading partner in Latin America. Our market share is around 2%, with bilateral trade worth over £3bn in 2007 (UK exports of £1.08bn and imports of £2.06bn).

Currently, around 90% of UK exports to Brazil are manufactured goods. Top exports include organic chemicals, pharmaceutical products, power generation machinery and equipment, professional scientific instruments and apparatus, electrical machinery and road vehicles. Brazil's main exports to the UK are meat and meat preparations, foodstuffs for animals, pulp and paper, footwear, cork and wood manufactures tobacco and tobacco products, power generation machinery and vegetables and fruit.

The UK is also a leading investor in Brazil. One of the major investors, HSBC expanded their operations by buying out Lloyds TSB's Brazil operation in 2004. The acquisition includes the wholesale bank, a foreign trade line of credit portfolio for Brazilian companies and Losango, Lloyd’s domestic consumer credit portfolio. Rexam, the packaging company, bought a local canning company for £272m. Cadbury acquired a Brazilian sugar confectionery manufacturing capacity with its purchase of Adams from Pfizer. It is now looking to expand into chocolate production with its purchase of local company, Garoto.

The last few years have seen a number of substantial investments, including a British Gas/Shell consortium purchase of a majority share in the Sao Paulo gas utility, Comgas; the award to National Grid of a major telecommunications licence; Pilkington’s plate glass factory near Sao Paulo and its new plant near Curitiba; a GlaxoSmithKline plant in Rio; and ICI’s acquisition of Bunge Paints, making it Latin America’s largest paint manufacturer.

Additionally, ICI have announced further investment plans of up to $50m. Other companies, such as JCB and BT, are steadily making inroads in this market. Away from the industrial sector, designers Priestman Goode and WGSN, the leading online trend analysis and news service for the fashion and style industries, are proving to be major successes.

UK Trade & Investment Country Profile: Brazil
British Consulate General, Sao Paulo - Trade & Investment information

UK Development Assistance

The British Government is engaged in a wide range of projects with Brazil. The majority of Embassy-run programmes, amounting to well over 3 million per annum, take place under the FCO's Strategic Programme Fund. Current programmes include co-operation with Brazil on sustainable development, human rights, economic governance, and climate change and energy. The Department for International Development (DFID) is fully engaged in Brazil, which is a key country for their wider development agenda in the region. DFID works with and through regional partners, with a special focus on the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. Their work covers social inclusion, inequality and trade and poverty issues. More detailed information is available at www.dfid.gov.uk.