Competitividade da produção de leite no Mercosul: o caso do sul e sudeste de Minas Gerais e a importação do leite argentino.

Abstract

This study tried to evaluate the economic integration of the Mercosul, comparing the competitiveness of milk production in the south and southeast of Minas Gerais state, the greatest brazilian producer region, and the import of Argentinas powdered milk, the traditional exporter to the brazilian market. The brasilian milk production is vulnerable to Mercosul integration, since the cost of the brazilian milk production is greater than the argentinean cost. In this study the cost schemes were stablished according to the technological levels adopted by 60 producers which were classified in high, middle and low productivity categories. The domestic intermediary cost and the import cost of Argentinean milk, which are important variables for the milk competitiveness evaluation through the nominal protection coefficient (CPN), were also used. The results showed that high productivity producers from the south and southeast of Minas Gerais state have means to compete with the milk imported from Argentina. The brazilian middle productivity producers' milk and the milk imported from Argentina are equivalent. The Argentinean milk presents better competitiveness than the brazilian low productivity producer's milk.