Brazil rolls out welcome mat

Trade structure changes as cooperation deepens

Chinese companies are beefing up efforts to invest in Brazil, as the country adopts a more welcoming attitude toward overseas capital amid a domestic economic recession while China seeks cooperation in international production capacity, experts told the Global Times on Tuesday. As of April 17, Chinese companies’ acquisitions in Brazil amounted to $ 5.67 billion in 2017, almost half of the $ 11.92 billion acquisitions made by domestic enterprises in Brazil in the whole year of 2016, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday. Chinese companies’ acquisitions in Brazil have taken place in a variety of sectors. In the energy sector, State Grid Corp of China took formal ownership of controlling

stakes in Brazilian power utility CPFL Energia SA in January, according to Reuters. In October 2016, China Three Gorges Corp bought the Brazilian business of US energy giant Duke Energy for about $ 1.2 billion, Duke Energy announced on its website.

In the aviation sector Hainan Airlines completed a deal for a 23.7 percent stake in Brazilian Azul Airlines carrier with an investment of about $45 million, atwonline. com reported in August 2016.

In terms of agriculture, Brazilian grains company Fiagril sold a 57 percent stake to China’s Human Dakang Pasture Farming Co, Reuter reported in April 2016.

The Brazil- China Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in March that Chinese companies plan to invest about $ 20 billion in purchasing Brazilian assets this year, up 68 percent year-on- -year compared with 2016

Zhou Zhiwei, executive director of the Brazil Research Center under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that China started to invest in Brazil around 2009, but it was not until recent years that the investment started to speed

up. “One reason for this is that Brazil's economy has faced a recession in recent years, but the country's domestic invesment rate is very low, and this has forced the Brazilian government to open up industries to overseas investors to support its economy," he told the Global Times on Tuesday. Brazil’s GDP contracted 3.6 percent in 2016, followinga 3.8 percent