A MCDA application for selecting which Brazilian fruits are best suited to future contracts

Given the importance of agribusiness for the Brazilian Economy and the requirements of formalization and the degree of professionalization achieved in this sector, this paper considers the use of future contracts to strengthen the marketing of Brazilian fruits. Some of the fruits considered have never been negotiated by using future contracts. However the objective of this paper is to point out which fruits from a set of Brazilian fruits are the most suitable ones when it comes to negotiations that use future contracts. In the case study, a MCDA method was considered that is compatible with this selecting-a-fruit problem. The PROMETHEE I method was used to analyze the following alternatives: banana, guava, orange, apple, papaya, mango, tangerine and grape by considering their performance set against the following criteria: perishability, price oscillation and market size. The main result indicated that the grape is the fruit that best fits into negotiations using the futures markets.