São Paulo – Brazil ended the first week of 2017 with a trade surplus of USD 222 million, keeping up with last year’s positive results, which generated a record surplus.
According to data made available by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Services (MDIC) this Monday (9), exports totaled USD 3.021 billion last week, while imports totaled USD 2.799 billion.
Exports reached USD 604.2 million on average per business day in the month’s first week, a 7.5% increase in comparison to the average of January 2016. Driving up the results were the 51.4% sales increase of semi-finished products, especially raw sugar, iron and steel semi-finished products, ferro-alloys, crude soy bean oil and semi-finished gold; and the 1.4% climb in shipments of finished products, with the highlights being non-frozen orange juice, cargo vehicles, chassis fitted with engines, iron and steel flat-rolled products, refined sugar and hydrocarbons.
Sales of basic goods declined 3% in the period, driven down by maize grains, crude oil, soy, coffee beans, beef and poultry.
In comparison to December, there was a decline of 16.6% in the average of shipments, with a 30.7% drop in orders of finished products and 14.2% drop in orders of basic goods. Sales of semi-finished products climbed 16.2% in this comparison.
Imports went up 8.5% in the first week’s daily average in comparison to the daily average of January 2016, reaching USD 559.8 million. Purchases of organic and inorganic fertilizers, cereals and milling industry products, aircrafts and parts, fuel and lubricants, electronics and precision and optical instruments went up.
In comparison to December’s average, there was a increase of 6.8% in imports, driven by aircraft and parts, organic and inorganic fertilizers, fuel and lubricants, organic and inorganic chemicals, electronics and plastic and products.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
