Brasília – In April’s first week, Brazil’s trade surplus reached USD 1.461 billion, the result of USD 4.524 billion worth of exports and USD 3.064 billion worth of imports. Year-to-date, exports have reached USD 58.891 billion, while imports have reached USD 43.482 billion, resulting in a surplus of USD 15.409 billion.
The data was released by the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services (MDIC). Last week, if compared to the same period of last year, there was a decline of 7.9% in exports by the daily average, totaling USD 904.9 million against USD 982.2 million.
Exports fell due to a drop in sales of basic goods (-16.5%), such as soy beans, coffee beans, crude oil, iron ore and soy bran; of finished products (-3.1%), such as iron and steel flexible pipes, hydrocarbons and halogenated derivatives, refined sugar, aircrafts and passenger vehicles.
Exports of semi-finished products surged 17.8%, mainly due to sales of pig iron, crude soy bean oil, ferro-alloys, wood pulp and iron and steel semi-finished products.
Imports in April’s first week surpassed in 2.9% the average of April 2017, with USD 612.7 million. In this comparison, there was an increase of 163% in purchases of beverages and alcohol, of 54.2% in pharmaceuticals, of 42.1% in vehicles and auto parts, of 30.6% in mechanical equipment, and of 19.3% in optical and precision instruments.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
