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products, including meat and hides, wool, rice, beans, cashews, avocados, wheat, grapes, and
tobacco; from the forests comes lumber.
The city’s industries are chiefly concerned with processing those products and include
meatpacking, lard refining, leather tanning, shipbuilding, and the manufacturing of textiles,
metallurgic goods, electrical and communications equipment, plastics, pharmaceuticals,
perfume, beer, and chemicals. There are also steel mills, an oil terminal, and
a petrochemical complex. Power comes from coal mined at nearby São Jerônimo and from a

hydroelectric plant at Salto.

Porto Alegre’s growth has stemmed from its strategic location. Because the lower courses of
the rivers forming the Guaíba River are all navigable, the city has become Brazil’s most
important center of inland navigation. Its products can be shipped across the Patos Lagoon.
The city’s railroad service is excellent, with connections to Uruguayan and Argentine lines as
well as to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro

Most of the state is tall-grass prairie, with pine and tropical forests in the higher elevations and
deeper river valleys. Animal life includes deer, rodents, otters, armadillos, monkeys, and
porcupines. Coastal and inland waters abound with fish (anchovies, dolphins, kingfish, flatfish,

mullet) and shrimp. The climate is generally mild. In winter, cold air from the south brings
heavy rains and occasional snow to the higher elevations. In summer, the prevailing northeast
winds bring less rain and hot weather, especially inland.

Places to go:

Parque Nacional da Serra Geral

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