When Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff begins her first visit to China today for a summit of leaders from the Brics club of fast-growing emerging markets, she will be interested in more than just diplomacy.

While she will raise Brazil’s gripes with Beijing, such as China’s allegedly undervalued currency and greater reciprocity for Brazilian manufactured exports, Ms Rousseff will be keen to witness first-hand the Asian economic powerhouse’s successful experiment in statist industrial policy – an approach her government is increasingly moving towards at home.

Concerned about Brazil’s increasing dependence on raw material exports, Ms Rousseff and her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – both from the leftwing Workers Party – have been pushing for greater development of domestic industry through policies targeting large, state-controlled companies. They have been also aggressively building national champions through the use of state credit.