PERFORMANCE AND INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF THE FERTILIZER SECTOR:

AN ANALYSIS BASED ON THE INPUT-OUTPUT MODELS

Abstract

The growing of world demand for food and biofuels has put pressure on the agricultural sector in terms of increased production and productivity. In this context, the fertilizer sector becomes highly strategic, with crop volume growth strongly associated with its use. In Brazil, there is a strong dependence on the import of fertilizers, which ends up generating obstacles to a greater dynamism of the agribusiness sector, even with the country’s great emphasis on world agricultural production and high internal demand for this agricultural input. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the behavior of the fertilizer sector and its interrelations with the other sectors of the Brazilian economy, according to the input-output model. The results highlight the importance of the sector in terms of its interrelations with the other sectors of the Brazilian economy, which allows to conclude that investments in this sector, by reducing its dependence on the external market, can contribute significantly to the growth Brazilian economy, especially for the agricultural sector.