How Extractivist Is the "Commodities Country"?

A Biophysical Look at Brazil's Trade Balance (1971–2023)

Abstract

This paper examines the profile of Brazil’s foreign trade between 1971 and
2023, with a particular focus on the biophysical trade balance—defined as the
difference between biophysical imports and biophysical exports—categorized
into biomass, fossil fuels, metallic minerals, and non-metallic minerals. The
analysis spans more than five decades, a time frame broad enough to capture
distinct cycles of Brazilian economic growth. Grounded in the theoretical
perspectives of unequal ecological exchange and neo-extractivism, and
employing the methodological framework of socio-economic metabolism,
the results indicate a significant increase in the deficit of the biophysical
trade balance. This outcome underscores Brazil’s persistent role as a net
supplier of raw materials. The material intensity of trade flows followed
divergent trajectories: while the material intensity of Brazilian exports
increased—signaling a devaluation per unit of mass—the material intensity
of imports declined. This dynamic, characterized by the rising material
burden of exports in contrast to the relative “dematerialization” of imports,
is captured by the π ratio and highlights a deterioration in the material and
sustainability dimensions of Brazil’s integration into global trade flows,
consistent with a worsening of the ecological inequality embedded in the
country’s foreign trade.