Petrobras climbs 20 positions in the ranking of the largest companies.

Petrobras is the highest-ranked Brazilian company on Fortune magazine's annual list of the 500 largest companies in the world. The Brazilian state-owned oil company appears in 34th position, with revenues of US$120,052 billion and net income of US$19,184 billion. Compared to the previous ranking, the company climbed 20 positions, as in 2010 it was in 54th place, with revenues of US$91,869 billion and net income of US$15,504 billion.

Petrobras appears behind several other major global oil companies, such as Royal Dutch Shell (2nd); Exxon Mobil (3rd); BP (4th); Sinopec Group (5th); China National Petroleum (6th); Chevron (10th); Total (11th); Conoco Phillips (12th) and ENI (23rd).

Leading the ranking is the retail chain Walmart, with revenues of US$421,849 billion and profits of US$16,389 billion, less than Petrobras. If the list were based on profit, Walmart would only appear in 13th place, while the Brazilian state-owned company would be in 8th place. The food giant Nestlé recorded the highest profit among the major global groups, with earnings of US$32,843 billion. By revenue, the Swiss company appears in 42nd place.

Six other Brazilian companies appear in the Global 500 ranking. Banco do Brasil came in 117th place, with revenues of US$62,891 billion. Compared to the previous list, it climbed 31 places. The other Brazilian banks that appear in the ranking lost positions: Bradesco dropped from 135th to 156th place, with revenues of US$53,010 billion, while Itaúsa - Investimentos Itaú fell from 117th to 359th, or the sixth best-placed Brazilian company, with revenues of US$26,982 billion.

Vale appears this year as the 186th largest global company, with revenue of US$45,293 billion, a jump of 177 positions. The meatpacking group JBS had an even more significant evolution, of 190 places, going from 496th place last year to 306th, with revenue of US$31,279 billion. Ultrapar Holdings rose from 471st to 399th, with revenue of US$24,135 billion, being the seventh and last Brazilian company to appear among the 500 largest companies in the world.