Wood Industry: An Analysis of Its Contribution to Roraima's Trade Balance and Economy

Abstract

Since the colonial period, forest products are part of the foreign trade of the several states that make up the legal Amazon. This factor contributes to the economy of several municipalities, generating jobs and income. In this context, all municipalities of the state of Roraima are involved in logging and they make up for a relevant part of the production, for both domestic and foreign markets, which generates a multiplier effect on their economy. Thus, the objective of this paper is to analyze the contribution of the timber sector to Roraima's trade balance from 1989 to 2018, showing the sector's importance in the economy, generating jobs and income. To achieve this end, we used both descriptive and bibliographic research, which allowed us to analyze data related to foreign trade, Gross Domestic Product and Income, with the support of the literature on the subject. The results show that the contribution of the timber sector in foreign trade is due to the absolute and relative advantages, the abundance of production factors (forest resources) and the ability to influence the growth of other activities by providing impacts on output levels, employment and income. The data demonstrates the influence of the timber sector on foreign trade with dazzling effects for the domestic market.