The biodiesel chain added R$ 30.8 billion to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) last year. Production, which represents 2% of the entire agro-industrial chain, generated R$ 10.5 billion in the period.
The rest of the chain generated R$ 20.3 billion, which came from the service, transport, commercialization and other activities necessary for biodiesel to reach the consumer.
These figures are part of a new monitoring of the sector, made possible by a partnership between Cepea (Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics) and Abiove (Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries).
The two entities began the continuous production of indicators on GDP, employment and the trade balance of the soy and biodiesel chain.
Nicole Rennó Castro, a researcher at Cepea, says that agribusiness has to be seen as chains. Therefore, the numbers of Cepea and Abiove will be differentiated from those of the IBGE. This considers three major sectors in the economy in the assessment of GDP and employment: agriculture, industry and services.
On the other hand, Cepea, considering the interdependence of agriculture with the industrial and service sectors, calculates GDP adopting a broader concept: agriculture, agro-industries and agro-services.
In this concept, total agribusiness accounted for 27.4% of Brazilian GDP in 2021, and employment, for 20.2% of the vacancies generated in the country.
Cepea started the evaluation of the soybean chain using biodiesel. The first numbers, released this Wednesday (23), indicated the multiplier effect of this biofuel on the national economy.
Considering the intersectoral linkages, for each R$ 1 more in the manufacturing activity, another R$ 4.40 is added to the economy as a whole.
In the case of employment, for every R$1 more in biodiesel production, 33 jobs are added to the economy as a whole. In 2021, 19 thousand people were directly employed in the activity.
Rennó says that 97% of the jobs created in the biodiesel sector last year were with a formal contract. This rate is higher than that of Brazilian agribusiness, which reaches 86%.
The average salary paid was R$ 2,408, up 16% in relation to the national agribusiness.
For Geraldo Sant’Ana de Camargo Barros, scientific coordinator of Cepea, this comprehensive view of agribusiness through production chains is important. It allows for better policy making and serves as a foundation for society.
André Nassar, executive president of Abiove, says that this discussion about the GDP of the soy chain is old. Now, the numbers will show the economic performance of this sector on a quarterly basis.
The biodiesel sector underwent a series of government interference in setting the rate for mixing fuel with diesel last year.
Biodiesel production has soybean oil as a basic raw material in Brazil. Soybeans have been experiencing constant price increases, also pushing up the value of soybean oil.
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