In 2013, the Paraná had the
fifth largest GDP of Brazil, representing 5.90% of the Brazilian GDP in 2005, against 6.4% in 2003. About 15% of Paraná's GDP comes from
agriculture. Another 40% comes from
industry and the remaining 45% comes from the
tertiary sector. As for its exports, in 2012 the main products exported were soybeans (18.73%), Meat Poultry (10.50%), sugar in Natura (8.09%), Soybean Meal (8.00%) and corn (6.36%). The state's largest company is the government-owned
Copel, which supplies electricity, natural gas and other utilities to Paraná and some surrounding areas and in 1997 was among the first Brazilian companies to be listed on the
New York Stock Exchange (ELP). The main economic activities are agriculture, industry (
agribusiness, automotive, and paper) and plant extraction (wood and
yerba mate). Despite the good social indicators and high standard of living, unemployment is still a problem and the state is one of the most difficult for foreigners trying to find jobs.
Agriculture In agriculture, the state stands out in the production of
soybeans,
maize,
wheat,
sugarcane,
cassava,
beans,
tomato,
orange and
yerba mate, in addition to also producing
coffee,
oat,
barley,
peach,
tangerine and
strawberry. In 2020, the South Region produced 32% of the national total of cereals, vegetables and oilseeds. There were 77.2 million tons, second place in Brazil, losing only to the Midwest. Paraná (14.9%) was the 2nd largest producer in the country. In
soy, Paraná is the 2nd largest producer in the country, with about 16% of national production. It produced 19.8 million tons in 2020. Brazil is the biggest producer of soy and the 2nd biggest producer of corn in the world. Regarding
sugarcane, Paraná was, in 2017, the fifth largest producer of cane, third of sugar and fifth of alcohol in the country. It harvested about 46 million tons of cane this year. The state's sugar and alcohol sector has 25 plants and employs around 55,000 people. The regions of Umuarama, Paranavaí, Maringá and Jacarezinho concentrate production. Brazil is the largest world producer, with 672.8 million tons harvested in 2018. In
cassava production, Brazil produced a total of 17.6 million tons in 2018. Paraná was the 2nd largest producer in the country, with 3.2 million tons. Since 2006, Paraná has been leading the production of
beans in Brazil. Brazil is the 3rd largest producer of beans in the world, with an annual harvest of around 3 million tons, 11% of world production. In 2018, the South Region was the main bean producer with 26.4% of the total, followed by the Midwest (25.4%), Southeast Region (25.1%), Northeast (20.6%) and North (2.5%). The State of Paraná leads the ranking of the main national producers with 18.9% of the total produced. Paraná is the 2nd largest national producer of
wheat, with 2.2 million tons in 2019, almost equal to Rio Grande do Sul, the biggest producer. The South Region is also the largest producer of
oats in Brazil. In 2019, national production was close to 800 thousand tons, being almost all carried out in the South (Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul). About
orange, Paraná was the 3rd largest producer in Brazil in 2018, with a total of 834 thousand tons. Although not a large production, Paraná is the Brazilian leader in the production of
barley. The state harvested 219.2 thousand tons in 2019, 60% of the national production. However, Brazil is far from being self-sufficient in the production of barley. The Brazilian market consumes, on average, 1.5 million tons per year. Brazil produces 335 thousand tons, close to 22%. Most, 73%, come from Argentina and Uruguay. In 2018, Paraná was the 4th largest produce of
tangerine in Brazil. Paraná also has a part of the production of
peaches in Brazil. In 2019, in Brazil, there was a total production area of around 4 thousand hectares of
strawberry. Paraná was the 4th largest producers in the country. In
coffee, Paraná is the producer state located further south in the country. It was once the largest producing state in Brazil: in 1962, Paraná accounted for 58% of national production, but in 2017, it had only 2.7% of the total produced in the country. The coffee culture has been replaced by other planting crops, and the state's focus today has been to invest in special, more expensive coffee beans. In 2019, Brazil produced about 900 thousand tons of
yerba mate annually, according to the IBGE. Paraná is the largest producer in volume and Rio Grande do Sul in plantation areas (and where the sector is more industrialized). According to 2017 data, Paraná harvested 301 thousand tons of yerba mate by extractive method, and 237 thousand tons in plantation. The productive potential of yerba mate is still little explored in Brazil, with a good part of the harvest carried out by the extractive system and with low levels of productivity. However, many new producers are adopting more professional and efficient production systems, with technical acuity of management and globalized market vision. This tends to increase Brazil's export of this product. In 2017, the state's
cattle herd was 9.3 million head, 10th place in the country. In 2018, Paraná produced a total of 4.4 billion liters of
milk, making it the 2nd largest producer in the country. The city of
Castro was the largest producer in the country in 2018, with 292 million liters of milk. In
pork, the 3 southern states are the largest producers in the country. Brazil had 41.1 million head in 2017. Paraná (17.2%) is the 2nd largest producer. The Brazilian
poultry flock, in 2018, was of the order of 1.5 billion heads. In 2017, the biggest poultry producing state in Brazil was Paraná (25.3%). In terms of
chickens, in 2017 there were 242.8 million heads in the country. Among the states that were the largest producers, São Paulo led with 21.9%, followed by Paraná (10.1%). In the production of chicken
eggs, the state ranks 2nd in Brazil, with 9,6% of national production. In Brazil, the
automotive sector represents close to 22% of industrial GDP. In 2019 the state came 2nd in national vehicle production, with a share of 15%. The state has
Volkswagen,
Renault,
Audi,
Volvo and
DAF plants. in Foz do Iguaçú In the
paper and
cellulose sector, Brazilian pulp production was 19.691 million tons in 2019. The country exported US$7.48 billion in pulp this year, US$3.25 billion only to China. Brazilian forest-based industry exports totaled US$9.7 billion (US$7.48 billion in cellulose, US$2 billion in paper and US$265 million in wood panels). Paper production was 10.535 million tons in 2019. The country exported 2.163 million tons. In 2016, the paper and cellulose industry in the South of the country represented 33% of the national total. This year, Paraná was the national leader in the production of roundwood (mainly
eucalyptus) for the pulp and paper industry (15.9 million m3); Brazil was the second country that produced the most cellulose in the world and the eighth in the production of paper. The city that most produced these woods in Brazil was
Telêmaco Borba (PR), and the 5th largest was
Ortigueira (PR). In 2016, the top five states producing logs for paper and cellulose (mainly
eucalyptus) were: Paraná (15.9 million m3),
São Paulo (14.7 million m3), Bahia (13.6 million m3), Mato Grosso do Sul (9.9 million m3) and
Minas Gerais (7.8 million m3). Together, they correspond to 72.7% of the national production of 85.1 million m3. The ten largest producing municipalities had 22.9% of the country's production. They were the cities of Telêmaco Borba (PR), Três Lagoas (MS), Caravelas (BA), Mucuri (BA), Ortigueira (PR), São Mateus (ES), Dom Eliseu (PR), Nova Viçosa (BA), Water Clara (MS) and Ribas do Rio Pardo (MS). In
Food industry, In 2019, Brazil was the 2nd largest exporter of processed foods in the world, with a value of U $34.1 billion in exports. The Brazilian food and beverage industry's revenue in 2019 was R $699.9 billion, 9.7% of the country's Gross Domestic Product. In 2015, the industrial food and beverage sector in Brazil comprised 34,800 companies (not counting bakeries), the vast majority of which were small. These companies employed more than 1,600,000 workers, making the food and beverage industry the largest employer in the manufacturing industry. There are around 570 large companies in Brazil, which concentrate a good part of the total industry revenue. Paraná created food companies of national importance such as
Frimesa,
C.Vale,
Nutrimental, Copacol,
Coopavel and
Matte Leão. In the
electronics industry, the turnover of industries in Brazil reached R $153.0 billion in 2019, about 3% of the national GDP. The number of employees in the sector was 234.5 thousand people. Exports were US$5.6 billion, and the country's imports were US$32.0 billion. Brazil, despite its efforts over the decades to get rid of the dependence on technology imports, has not yet managed to reach this level. Imports are concentrated in expensive components, such as processors, microcontrollers, memories, under-mounted magnetic disks, lasers, LED and LCD. Cables for telecommunication and electricity distribution, wires, optical fibers and connectors are manufactured in the country. Brazil has two large electro-electronic production hubs, located in the Metropolitan Region of
Campinas, in the State of São Paulo, and in
Free Economic Zone of Manaus, in the State of Amazonas. There are large internationally renowned technology companies, as well as part of the industries that participate in its supply chain. The country also has other smaller centers, and one of them is at
Curitiba, capital of Paraná. The technological center of Curitiba has companies such as
Siemens and
Positivo Informatics. 87 companies and 16,000 employees work at Tecnoparque, an area of 127,000 m2 created by state law in 2007. Tecnoparque can grow up to 400,000 m2 with up to four times the number of workers it has today, reaching 68 thousand people. In the
small appliances sector, Paraná has one of the famous companies:
Britânia, originally from Curitiba. ==Infrastructure==