A inserção dependente do Brasil na atual divisão internacional do trabalho: o caso da indústria de alimentos e bebidas

Abstract

The global capitalist crisis that emerged in the 1960s spurred a productive restructuring led by capital from core countries, shaping a global model of capital reproduction aligned with their interests. This transformation consolidated global value chains (GVC) as the foundation of a new international division of labor (IDL), which allocated laborintensive and low value-added production stages to peripheral countries, while reserving strategic and technological phases for core economies. In Brazil, the economic reorganization of this period was marked by the adoption of the neoliberal model and by a growing specialization in the export of primary and natural resourceintensive goods, thus integrating the country into GVC under structurally dependent conditions vis-à-vis global economic centers. This study investigates, through the lens of Marxist Dependency Theory (MDT), the relationship between the insertion of Brazil’s food and beverage (F&B) industry into the contemporary IDL and the reproduction of dependency, despite the global prominence achieved by the sector. The research adopts a methodological approach based on a literature review focused on MDT and a documentary analysis of data from both national and international institutions. The first part of the study addresses the historical evolution of the IDL, followed by an analysis of Latin American – particularly Brazilian – dependency. The third section examines the F&B sector’s role within Brazil’s dependent capitalist structure and its contribution to the reproduction of global capital. The findings reveal that, although Brazil is one of the world’s leading producers of processed foods, the integration of its F&B industries into the global economy has occurred in a subordinate manner, fulfilling functions aligned with the reproduction needs of capital from core nations. The capital cycle in this sector is characterized by technological and financial dependence, value transfer (through mechanisms such as unequal exchange, profit remittances, and royalty payments), overexploitation of labor (via low wages, long working hours, high labor intensification, among others), and a fragmentation of the capital cycle stages – manifested in the contradiction between high levels of food production and widespread food insecurity. The conclusion emphasizes that the expansion of the F&B industry in Brazil does not represent a departure from its peripheral condition but rather an updated expression of dependency, now mediated by the current IDL and the neoliberal paradigm. This thesis contributes to the debate on the Brazilian economy by demonstrating how seemingly consolidated and globally prominent sectors reproduce the structural contradictions of dependent capitalism, underscoring the need for alternatives that transcend subordinate integration into global capitalism.