Export and import houses in the port of Santos and the global chain of coffee (19th and early 20th centuries)

Abstract

This article analyzes the role of importing and exporting houses in the Port of Santos between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, seeking to evaluate the role of these firms in the process of integration of the world coffee market. Amid the prosperity of grain exports, a number of foreign
households became interested in transporting agricultural production and acted as agents for insurance companies and stocking houses. We also analyze the performance of importing houses and their relationship with Brazilian industrial capital formation;throughout the text, empirical examples drawn from primary sources are cited.