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The petroleum sector dominates the economy, accounting for roughly a third of Venezuela's GDP, around 80% of export earnings, and more than half of government revenues. The oil sector operates through the government-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), which among other things owns the US-based distributor CITGO, with more than 14,000 retail gasoline outlets in the United States under its brand. Venezuela also depends highly on the agricultural sector. Sectors with major potential for export-led growth are production of both coffee and cocoa crops. At one time, Venezuela ranked close to Colombia in coffee production, but in the 1960s and 70s, as petroleum temporarily turned Venezuela into the richest country in South America, coffee was relegated to the economic back burner. Today, Venezuela produces less than one percent of the world's coffee and most of it is drunk by the Venezuelans themselves. However, some interesting Venezuelan coffees are again entering the North American specialty market. Venezuela's cocoa industry has decayed since the days of Spanish colonialism, when African slaves toiled in these sweltering, snake-infested estates. The focus of cocoa cultivation has long since moved to tropical West Africa and Venezuela now grows under one per cent of the world crop. However, in recent years it has tried to resuscitate this industry, as its rare "criollo" variety of cacao is considered the finest and most aromatic in the world and is used in certain single origin chocolates. The largest company of fine chocolate in Venezuela is El Rey, though such companies as Chocovic also sell chocolate with Venezuelan cacao. Venezuela is one of the five founding members of OPEC. The idea itself (an international oil cartel) was the initiative of Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo, who proposed it as a response to low domestic and international oil prices in August 1960. Since December 2005, Venezuela has been a member of Mercosur, joining with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, although it has yet to finalize policy changes in order to gain voting rights. |
Venezuela Information: Inside
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