São Paulo – The Brazilian balance of trade recorded a US$ 2.944 billion surplus in September, which drove the year-to-date trade surplus up to US$ 10.246 billion. This Thursday (1st), the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade reported that exports declined compared with September last year, but imports dropped by an even higher amount, hence the surplus.
In September, Brazil grossed US$ 16.148 billion from exports, down 13.8% from a year ago as per average daily sales. The Ministry said exports dropped across all three product categories: basic goods sales fetched US$ 7.163 billion, down 19.6% from September 2014. Semi-finished goods sales reached US$ 2.277 billion, down 12.2%, and finished goods sales amounted to US$ 6.33 billion, down 4.6%.
Basic goods whose exports dropped the most include iron ore, crude oil, raw cotton, tobacco leaves, copper ore, soy bran, pork, poultry and coffee beans. Semi-finished goods exports declined the most for raw sugar, leathers and hides, semi-finished iron/steel and semi-finished gold. Finished goods that saw the sharpest declines in exports were refined sugar, land-levelling machinery, pharmaceuticals, flexible iron/steel pipes, and motors and generators.
Exports declined to all destinations. Sales to the Middle East were down 13.7% from September 2014, mostly due to lower revenues from sales of poultry, maize, iron ore, plastic polymers, refined sugar and tobacco leaves. Sales to Africa dropped 22.6%, driven by sugar, maize, poultry, iron ore and tractors.
Imports, for their part, had an even sharper decline than exports. According to the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Brazil imported US$ 13.204 billion worth of goods, down 32.7% from a year ago. Imports dropped 61.9% for fuel and lubricants; 27.4% for capital goods; 26% for raw materials and intermediate goods; and 23.4% for consumer goods. Brazil’s imports from the Middle East were down 56.4%, driven by urea, plastic polymers, heterocyclic compounds, kerosene, fuel oils and crude oil. Imports from Africa dropped 59.5%, mostly driven by crude oil, naphtha and fertilizers.
Year-to-date, exports from Brazil reached US$ 144.495 billion, down 16.3% from a year ago. Imports reached US$ 134.249 billion, down 22.6%. From January through September, Brazil ran a trade surplus. A year ago, it ran a US$ 742 million deficit.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
