According to a report on October 4, the enthusiasm that accompanied Brazil's boom in commodity exports to China in the first years of the 21st century had disappeared by 2015 - when Brazil suffered an economic collapse that caused millions of people to lose their jobs.

Kevin Gallagher, a professor of global development policy at Boston University, said that now, the business relationship between China and Brazil is entering a new stage.

"The commodity boom is over, but now the infrastructure industry, banking industry and some manufacturing industries are becoming active." According to a British report on September 26, one of the clearest manifestations of China's new determination appeared in June this year, when

China and Brazil have officially launched a US$20 billion investment fund, with China investing 75% and Brazil investing 25%. The two sides are currently studying to determine the scope of support targets.

“China quickly set up this $20 billion infrastructure fund because it wanted to start (investing),” Gallagher said. “Of course, Brazil was very happy to cooperate because the cost of capital is too high for it today.

High. Brazil has a huge infrastructure gap that cannot be filled by private capital or even development banks, so Brazil urgently needs these funds.” According to the report, Brazil’s demand for infrastructure is huge, which also brings Chinese engineering companies that are in urgent need of contracts.

Here comes a huge opportunity.

The Global Infrastructure Center, a research plan of the Group of Twenty (G20), estimates that Brazil will need to invest US$2.7 trillion in infrastructure by the end of 2040, but at the current investment rate, it can only obtain US$1.5 trillion in funds.

There is a funding gap of US$1.2 trillion.

Such pressures, combined with those from the recession, have led to Brazil being more open to foreigners owning and building infrastructure.

Government officials and analysts say China's large state-owned enterprises have seized on this, grabbing some of the best infrastructure assets and preparing to bid for more projects.

"Some countries do not allow Chinese investment to enter these fields (infrastructure), but this is not the case in Brazil," said Roberto Jaguaribe, chairman of the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency. "We very much welcome Chinese capital to invest in infrastructure." With specific data

Look, according to data from consulting firm Dirochi, Chinese acquisitions of infrastructure-related companies in the first quarter of 2017 totaled US$5.7 billion, accounting for almost 40% of Brazil’s total foreign investment.

The Brazil-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Sao Paulo predicts that the figure for the whole of 2017 may reach 20 billion US dollars, an increase of 70% compared with 2016.

According to the report, the importance of China’s infrastructure investment can be clearly seen in Brazil’s power generation and transmission sectors.

China's state-owned transmission company State Grid, the world's largest utility, acquired a controlling stake in CPFL Energia last year.

This gives the Chinese company, which already operates nearly 10,000 kilometers of transmission lines in Brazil, control of one of the largest parts of Brazil's power grid.

In terms of power generation, at the end of 2015, China Three Gorges Corporation won the bid for a 5-million-kilowatt hydropower project in Brazil, with a 30-year franchise and a total investment of approximately US$3.7 billion.

But this may just be the beginning of this wave of deals.

According to reports, in a sense, China is playing the role of a white knight.

Debt at some Brazilian power companies is climbing to unsustainable levels, weighed down by the recession and a 2012 Brazilian government measure that required companies to cut electricity prices before renewing 30-year contracts with the government.

A severe drought from 2013 to 2015 dried up Brazil's reservoirs and hit hydropower companies hard as customers switched from hydropower to thermal power.

At a strategic level, Beijing views Brazil as an important ally in the developing world, a key potential market with more than 200 million people, and a springboard for Chinese companies to seek business opportunities in other parts of Latin America.