Productive diversification in the Brazilian manufacturing industry

Abstract This study carried out an exploratory analysis of Brazilian productive diversification using official unpublished information on multiproduct plants obtained from the IBGE’s Annual Industrial Survey. The study is innovative given that it presents direct production data from multiproduct plants and elaborates a parameter for comparison between diversified and non-diversified sectors. Another differential refers to the high level of sectoral disaggregation, which includes about 100 manufacturing sectors. Results show that the share of sectors with companies that diversify production is small, albeit representative in terms of net sales revenue and production value. The economic indicators for the diversified share are more significant and grow as the level of diversification increases. Low and medium-low tech sectors tend to diversify more towards close sectors (intra-industry) while high and medium-high technology sectors engage in both intra and interindustry diversification.