Industrial confidence grew once again. The Business Confidence Index (ICEI) hit the mark of 54.0 points in March, the highest level since January 2014. The index is up by 4.0 points from the 50-point dividing line and by 16.6 points from the same month in 2016.

The alignment is important!

Brazilians take place great value to a contact person who is located in their market. This is very important in the area of investment goods; not to be imagined in the field of production and consumer goods. This has firstly a cultural and secondly a practical background.

The cultural background is that business negotiations with Brazilian companies are often based on personal relationships. Price, quality and terms are extremely important, but without a good personal relationship with the entrepreneur or the management, the chance of a successful business deal is nearly impossible.

A question that has to be answered with "Depends", like so many, when it comes to the topic of Brazil.

If you are looking for a quick success, you should surely look around for other growth markets, if they really still exist. However, if you like to do it properly and you are ready to invest to create the right structures and bring a good dose of patience, you can surely hope for a stable and sustainable growth and return on investment.

The persistent difficulties faced by industry continue to have an increasingly negative impact on investments. At 74%, the share of companies that invested in 2015 hit a record low since the survey’s historical series began in 2010. Over half of these firms (58%) failed to carry out their investment plans as intended. Economic uncertainty was the number one reason given for frustrated investment plans.