São Paulo – The Brazilian trade balance surplus registered in October was the best for the month in four years. According to data from the period released this Tuesday (3rd) by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC) in Brasília, exports overcame imports in USD 1.996 billion last month. A better result than this one in an October was registered last time in 2011, at USD 2.362 billion, according to information provided by the Ministry and published by Agência Brasil.
Even with the surplus obtained in October, both exports and imports were weaker than a year ago. Last month, exports totaled USD 16.049 billion, a 4.1% decrease in comparison to the same month of last year. Imports totaled USD 14.053 billion, a decline of 21.1%.
According to the MDIC, there was a decline in exports in all three categories of products in October in comparison to the same month in 2014. Basic goods exports totaled USD 7.311 billion in October, a 1.7% decline over the same month of last year.
The main products to post a decline were pork (-35.3%, to USD 108 million); iron ore (-34.2% to USD 1.1 billion); crude oil (-23.3% to USD 911 million); and poultry (-22.8% to USD 452 million). In turn, the ones that registered an increase were soy beans, with an increase of 197.8% to USD 990 million; maize grains (+79% to USD 920 million) and copper ore (+21.7% to USD 171 million).
In the category of semi-finished products, the decline in exports value in October of this year was of 8.1% over the same month of last year. Shipments of the category totaled USD 2.353 billion. Sales of cast iron declined 69.4% to USD 39 million, followed by crude aluminum (-42.8% to USD 27 million), hides and skins (-30.5% to USD 158 million) and raw sugar (-20.7% to USD 593 million).
Among finished products, exports totaled USD 6.035 billion in October, or 3.5% less, in value, than the same period of last year. The main declines were registered in sales of refined sugar, with a decline of 30.7% to USD 159 million; ground-leveling machines, with a decline of 28.3% to USD 115 million; and non-frozen orange juice, with a decline of 20.8% to USD 101 million.
Among the buying markets, only Asia imported more last month than in October 2014. Sales to the continent increased 17.4%. Exports to the Middle East decreased 2.9% in October, mainly due to a drop in shipments of iron ore, refined sugar and oxides and hydroxides of aluminum. Exports to Africa declined 23%, especially due to weaker sales of sugar, beef and poultry. In turn, among imports, only purchases from the Middle increased. It went up 48.5% over October 2014 due to stronger imports of crude oil, urea, aviation fuel and organic and chemical fertilizers, among others.
Year-to-date, exports totaled USD 160.545 million, a decline of 15.2% in value over the same period of 2014. Imports totaled USD 148.301 billion and stand 22.4% lower in the same comparison. Between January and October, there’s a surplus of USD 12.244 billion. In the same period of last year, there was a deficit of USD 1.921 billion.
Sales are weaker in the three categories of products and to all destinations. Shipments to the Middle East are down 1.8% in comparison to the year-to-date results at the same time of last year. Sales to Africa declined 13.5%. Brazilian imports declined from all continents and economic blocs. Purchases from the Middle East dropped 30.7% and from Africa declined 48.9%.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
