Recently there was the meeting for the G20, in a nutshell, look for solutions to the global economic crisis. However, everyone knows that the recovery of the economy depends on economic policies to be adopted by the United States.

Literally even if all the other countries were seeking alternatives in a meeting without the presence of the American superpower would be useless.

However, the countries that form the group that is called BRIC are increasingly influential in the world, especially China. Maybe this is the beginning of a new world order.

Many economic analysts believe that China, together with India, will be a kind of “locomotive industry,” while Brazil and Russia would be a major supplier of commodities to the world. This view is not wrong, but it is incomplete. And it is precisely on this that I will try to demonstrate in this article.

Many believe that Brazil depends solely on export of commodities and food, however it does not represent or 25% of exports of Brazilian products. But that did not prevent (and does prevent) that giant corporations have emerged in several areas.

The merger of two major stock exchanges of São Paulo (Bovespa and BM & F) created the third largest stock exchange in the world and now this new stock exchange is interested in buying other stock markets of South America. In the banking sector, the merger between Unibanco and Itaú formed a conglomerate with a market value among the 20 largest banks in the world.

However, the greatest of all Brazilian companies is Petrobras, a Brazilian state company that operates in 27 countries in the area of energy, primarily in the areas of exploration, production, refining, marketing and transportation of oil and its derivatives in Brazil and abroad . The company is fourth in the ranking of the largest publicly held oil from the world, is the third largest in the Americas in market value and occupies the sixth place among the world’s largest companies.

The second largest company in Brazil is the Vale do Rio Doce, 12th largest in the world. Another company is huge Anhseuser-Busch InBev, which controls 19% of the world market for beer.

But these are not examples that demonstrate the current concentration of large corporations in the sector of food and commodities in Brazil.

The JBS-Friboi, after acquiring the North American Swift Foods, this company is present in the U.S., Brazil, Argentina and Australia, representing 45% of world consumption of beef. Another merger that deserves mention is the pulp and paper sector, with the merger of VCP and Aracruz, forming the largest company in the world in this sector.

And this week, the two largest companies in the food sector in Brazil (Perdigão and Sadia) have announced an agreement to merge the two companies under the name of Brazil Foods. This “new” company will be present in more than one hundred countries and will be the tenth largest company in the sector of food in the world.

The unification of operations of Sadia and Perdigão is in fact the creation of a monster industrial conglomerate in the sector of food. Alone, they caused the bankruptcy of enterprises of this sector in some European countries. Together, they will continue to buy companies that compete with them even in Russia.

But you want to know what is in common between all these mergers? The immediate approval or participation of the Brazilian government, which funds such mergers (in some cases government is a shareholder of the new companies).

Of course, the strengthening of the Brazilian industry is something that should be encouraged. However, I honestly do not know if the creation or the strengthening of large corporations will benefit consumers.

Plus, companies from the same sector in other countries will be able to compete with the new Brazilian corporations? Will this cause unemployment in other countries?

The only thing I know is that one of the reasons for the Doha Round (WTO) is not effective is precisely the fear that developed countries have from the developing countries in the sector of food production. In this sense, Brazil is the major supplier of food to the world, controlling the price of various commodities.

Of course, what I’m saying is just one among many possibilities. But have no doubt, the BRIC countries certainly change the “world order”, for better or for worse.