Breve panorama da trajetória do Instituto Nacional do Mate: alguns apontamentos sobre erva-mate e economia nacional

Abstract

In the present text, through a bibliographical review and primary sources, we wish to deal with the Brazilian market, inserting it into the national and international economic logic, with regard to the domestic market and exports, focusing especially on its relations with Argentina, largest consumer of Brazilian yerba mate, but also with Chile and Uruguay. We will make some considerations about the quest for market expansion, which includes, above all, North America and Europe. Finally, an attempt made in the essay form to understand the structures and political conjunctures involving the actions of the yerba mate National Institute (Instituto Nacional do Mate – INM), national economic policies and the search for the industrialization of the product. In this sense, in order to draw a limit to this text, it is convenient to focus the study on the production and trade of yerba mate during the life of the INM (1938-1967).