INSTITUIÇÕES E COMPETITIVIDADE NO COMÉRCIO INTERNACIONAL DE DERIVADOS DO COCO

Coconut agribusiness has undergone a restructuring process due to the increase in world consumption of products derived from coconut. Despite being the fifth largest producer, Brazil still does not present coconut farming as a consolidated activity, importing a large quantity of coconut’s products. This article aims to compare and analyze the Brazil’s exportation performance of coconut, desiccated coconut and coconut oil (copra) between 1980 and 2017, compared to the main producing countries. As a theoretical approach, it uses the institutional environment concept as one of the drivers of competitiveness in agro-industrial chains. The methodological procedure consists of calculating two indicators of competitiveness in international trade: The Revealed Comparative Advantage Index and Relative Market Position Index. The results show that Brazil is not competitive in international trade for the three products analyzed. The Philippines and Indonesia are the most competitive countries, leading the world exports. It was concluded that the protection measures for coconut cultivation adopted in Brazil were not sufficient to raise the levels of competitiveness.