From the Newsroom
São Paulo – Brazilian export to Argentina reached US$ 4.561 billion in 2003, a result 94.7% greater than in 2002, when a total of US$ 2.341 billion was reached.
This sales increase once again made Argentina the second largest buyer of Brazilian products, surpassing China in the last quarter of the year, informed the Development Ministry. The United States is still the first place in the rank.
As opposed to export, import presented a small drop. In 2003, Brazil imported a total of US$ 4.673 billion, a little less than the total imported in 2002, which was US$ 4.743 billion – a 1.48% drop. For this reason, the trade balance surplus for Argentina that was US$ 2.4 billion dropped to just US$ 112 million.
Argentine participation in Brazilian foreign trade was 3.88% in 2002, rising to 6.24% in 2003. In terms of import, Brazil reduced the percentage of Argentine purchases from 10.04% to 9.68%.
The products Brazil most exported to the region were passenger cars; transport vehicles; car and tractor parts; ethylene, propylene, and styrene polymers; iron ore; and tractors. Passenger cars alone are responsible for US$ 443 million of total sales in 2003 (9.7%).
The southeastern state of São Paulo was the Brazilian state with the largest participation in export, totalling US$ 1.917 billion of Brazilian sales to the country. In second place came the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul with US$ 606.9 million, followed by northeastern Bahia, with US$ 427.3 million.
