São Paulo – Automakers in Brazil increased exports revenues by 46.1% in February in comparison to January, reaching USD 1.18 billion. The amount was a record for the month. In the first two months of the year, exports went up 46.4% over the same period of last year, totaling USD 1.99 billion. The data was made public this Tuesday (7) by the National Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association (Anfavea).
Production climbed 14.7% in comparison to January and 28.1% in the year’s first two months, with a total of 200,400 vehicles.
Year-over-year, however, foreign sales were down 0.4%, with production declining 3.1%.
Domestic market sales tumbled 7.8% in February over January. In all, 135,700 units were sold, down 7.6% over February 2016. Vehicle registrations declined 6.4% in the first two months of the year and 16.5% year-over-year.
Anfavea’s president, Antonio Megale, has said that the “numbers weren’t positive since they stood below expectations.” For him, the market’s still weak and was impacted in part by Carnaval and by the economic crisis that hit the states of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo. The executive considered the best-ever exports numbers as significant.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
