Will Brazilian President Lula’s State Visit to Korea Boost Bilateral Trade and Investment?

[Financial News] Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s state visit to Korea is drawing attention to the possibility of expanding bilateral trade and investment.
The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), Brazil’s official body for export promotion and foreign investment attraction, hosted the ROK-Brazil Business Round Forum on the 23rd at Lotte Hotel Seoul in Sogong-dong, together with The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), creating a venue for mutual investment cooperation.
At the event, Jorge Viana, head of ApexBrasil, said, "Korea, which has strong competitiveness in advanced technology and manufacturing, and Brazil, the largest economy in South America that holds 23% of the world’s rare earth reserves, can form a complementary relationship," adding, "This will also contribute to building global value chains."
Through the ROK-Brazil Business Round Forum, ApexBrasil moved to concretize efforts to attract Korean corporate investment in areas such as strategic minerals, the health industry, digital transformation and semiconductors, and audiovisual content.
Brazil holds vast reserves of strategic minerals essential for producing semiconductors, batteries, and electronic products, including nickel, graphite, rare earths (second largest in the world), manganese, and bauxite (third largest in the world).
Brazil is also aiming to supply 70% of its own demand for pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. It hopes to secure joint investments and technology transfers from Korea, which is advanced in biotechnology and precision equipment manufacturing.
An ApexBrasil official noted, "President Lula announced the New Industry Brazil Plan in 2024, which calls for investing 300 billion Brazilian real (BRL), or about 84 trillion won, by 2027, and is now implementing it," adding, "This is becoming an important investment opportunity in Brazil for Korean companies as well."
To pursue a strong export promotion policy, the Brazilian government established the export promotion agency Apex in 1999, modeled after Korea’s Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). It later added investment-attraction functions and changed its name to the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil).
In cooperation with KOTRA, with which it has signed a cooperation agreement, ApexBrasil plans to set up a Korean Desk dedicated to attracting investment from Korean companies, using this ROK-Brazil Business Round Forum as a starting point.
Korea is Brazil’s 13th-largest trading partner, and bilateral trade reached 10.8 billion dollars last year. Korea exported 5.3 billion dollars’ worth of goods to Brazil, including electronic components such as thermionic valves, auto parts, and pharmaceuticals. From Brazil, Korea imported 5.47 billion dollars’ worth of crude oil, iron ore, soybean meal, poultry, meat, and coffee beans.

ssuccu@fnnews.com Kim Seo-yeon Reporter