Brasília – The Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade of Brazil announced today (02) that the trade balance of Brazil registered a deficit of US$ 518 million in January. In the first month of 2009, Brazilian exports reached US$ 9.788 billion (a daily average of US$ 466.1 million) and imports, US$ 10.306 billion (a daily average of US$ 490.8 million).
Global trade (the total of exports plus imports) reached US$ 20.094 billion, with a daily average of US$ 957 million in shipments. In comparison with the daily average registered in January 2008, when exports totalled US$ 603.5 million and imports US$ 561.6 million, there was a reduction of 22.8% in sales of Brazilian products to foreign markets, and a 12.6% reduction in the purchases of products on the foreign market in January 2009.
When compared with December 2008, the daily average of exports in January 2009 was 25.8% smaller and that of imports, 6.3% lower, as in December the daily average of shipments was US$ 628.1 million, and of products arriving, US$ 523.5 million.
The trade balance result in January 2009, which resulted in a daily average deficit of US$ 24.7 million, was 158.9% lower than that registered in January 2008 (a surplus of US$ 41.9 million). When compared to December last year, when the surplus was US$ 104.6 million, the reduction was 123.6%.
According to a press statement by the ministry, since March 2001, when there was a trade deficit of US$ 274 million, Brazil had not posted a trade deficit.
*Translated by Mark Ament
