Para além da agricultura: o efeito "treadmill" no sistema agroindustrial de alimentos no Brasil

Resumo

The food real prices in Brazil have declined 20% on average since the monetary stabilization plan of 1994 despite two exchange devaluations in 1999 and 2001. The classical explanation based on productivity gains from agriculture does not apply to that period, when food retail prices grew less than agricultural prices. The objective of the paper is to explore the causes of these relative price variations among agriculture, industry, and distribution, analyzing the behavior of the price series in the last 6 years and the microeconomic adjustments based on a set of in-depth interviews conducted with leading retail firms, industry, traders, and cooperatives during 2001/2002.