São Paulo – The first trade balance partial result of the year, released this Monday (13) by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC), show a negative result for Brazil by US$ 574 million between January 1 and 12. According to the MDIC, daily exports reached US$ 724.1 million, which is 0.2% less than in January last year. Imports were also lower, the daily average during the first 12 days of the year was US$ 806.1 million, that is, 11.4% lower than that registered in January 2013.
According to the announcement by the Ministry, there was a decrease by 7.2% in shipments of manufactured goods. Exports of semi-manufactured goods increased by 4.9% and basic goods increased by 3.3%.
As for imports, purchases of fuels and lubricants dropped 71.7%, dairy products dropped 38%, airplanes and auto parts dropped 23.9%, beverages and alcohol, 21.4%, and pharmaceuticals showed a 9.9% decrease. In the beginning of 2013, imports of fuels and lubricants affected the trade balance result because Brazil registered imports made in 2012 only in 2013.
In the year’s accumulated sum, Brazil exported US$ 5.069 billion and imported US$ 5.643 billion. The sum of exports and imports in the period reached US$ 10.712 billion.
*Translated by Silvia Lindsey
