Latin America News Q3 2018

LATINAMERICANEWS / Q3 2018 19 Investing in Brazil: Why it’s become so popular All these features create a favourable background for people wishing to invest in Brazil, especially in the main industries; iron and steel, oil, coal, aircraft manufacturing and textiles of all kinds. Property is an up- and-coming field too, which will feature in an article later in this series. One must also pay close attention to the 20% of the workforce who are employed in agriculture. This is a multi-million Real expanding sector with more than its share of recent controversy. These are centred on GMO’s (Genetically Modified Organisms), increasingly employed to boost yields and make crops more durable…but at too great a cost to environmental safety, some would say. Investments are made by governments, companies and individuals for a mixture of reasons. While it seems obvious that seeking the best and the fastest profitable returns is a prime motivator, there are other purposes such as the perceived ‘social good’ of a particular enterprise. In Brazil these days this is certainly true of the public sector projects of course but perhaps surprisingly, also of some of the infrastructure improving projects such as those to do with renewable energy. This includes bio-fuels such as ethanol but also, modest so far but increasing, wind power. Hydro was significant previously (and still is to some extent) but has proved susceptible to drought lowering river and dam levels. This led to a determined move to diversify to other renewable sources. The outcome is that a clear majority of the energy produced in Brazil today is from these non-carbon origins.