Location of industry in Brazil Fig. 16 São Paulo is an important business centre.
The industrialised economic hub of Brazil is found along the south-east coast around the cities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Belo Horizonte. Many multinational companies have located their head offices in these cities. These cities contain a labour force, ports and raw materials and they provide a large market. The most successful manufacturing industries are cars, steel, petrochemicals, engineering and cement. Brazil is the world’s third largest producer of commercial aircraft. Just over 40% of the country’s population (79 million) is concentrated in the south-east of Brazil. The area is rich in minerals and its manufacturing industries are the most advanced in the country.
Physical factors affecting location of manufacturing in Brazil Most manufacturing is located in the south-eastern states of Brazil because of a combination of physical factors listed below. 1. Raw materials such as limestone and iron ore are found nearby in the Minas Gerais region. In addition, most ironworks and steelworks are here.
2. Oil and gas fields have been discovered and exploited offshore from Rio de Janeiro. 3. The south-east coastline has many sheltered deep water harbours which are now used for the import and export of raw materials and finished goods by ship.
Equator T
Lowlands of Amazon Basin
4. Brazil has huge supplies of cheap hydroelectric power (HEP), 90% of which is produced in the Amazon Basin. Nearly €69 billion has been spent on several hundred power projects, most under the Advança Brazil scheme. This has encouraged the location of energy intensive steel industries close to their raw materials in the south east.
FOREST T G Grosso Belo Horizonte Tropic of Capricorn
Pantanal wetland
Iguacu Falls
Porto Alegre Rio De Janeiro São Paulo Mato Salvador Belem Recife G
Copper zone Iron quadrangle
Many metals region
G T
Gold Tin
Industrial triangle
Fig. 17 The location of raw materials and natural resources in Brazil.