On July 16, Brazilian President Lula and Vice President Alckmin met with the Brazilian Food Industry Association (ABIA), which announced a 120 billion reais investment plan for 2023-2026. This plan allocates 75 billion reais for factory construction, expansion, and upgrades, and 45 billion reais for research and development. This investment is the second largest in Brazil's industrial sector, following a 130 billion reais investment in the automotive industry. The Brazilian food industry, consisting of about 41,000 companies, contributes 10.8% to Brazil's GDP and is the world's largest exporter of processed foods. In the first half of the year, the industry's added value grew by 3.3% and exports increased by 8.4% to 32.2 billion US dollars.