The gaps in national investment opportunities: strategies of the exporting firm J. F. Lacerda & Co. to control the exportation of coffee in Santos in the 1880s

Abstract

The economic rise of the province of São Paulo in the nineteenth century was a result of the expansion of coffee plantations in the Oeste Paulista and the formation of an economic complex with parallel activities linked to the exportation of the product. Among these activities, import and export trade was one of the most important, and most exporting coffee firms in Santos were foreign firms, which led to economic historiography to relegate the national capital in this sector. However, the main exporting coffee house in Santos in the mid-1880s was J. F. de Lacerda & Co., a family business, owned by the Lacerda Franco family. This paper investigates the operation of this firm, which was a commissioner and exporting firm, through the analysis of its financial statements and, accordingly, apprehends its strategy that was based on the tripod coffee, capital and productive network in São Paulo coffee municipalities.

Keywords:
Coffee; Firm commissioner; Exporting; J. F. de Lacerda & Co