São Paulo – Brazilian exports totalled US$ 185.9 billion in the accumulated result this year up to the first week of October, according to information disclosed on Monday (8) by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. There was reduction of 5% over the same period last year, when sales were US$ 195.3 billion.
Imports also dropped in the period, from US$ 171.7 billion in the accumulated result last year up to the first week of October to US$ 169.4 billion in 2012. Both this year and last year, the number of working days in the period was 194. The trade balance surplus is US$ 16.5 billion. In 2011, the surplus accumulated in the period was US$ 23.6 billion.
In the first week of October, alone, foreign sales totalled US$ 5.3 billion, with imports of US$ 4.5 billion and a surplus of US$ 812 million. There was retraction of 3.2% in the daily average of shipments, from US$ 1.1 billion to US$ 1.07 billion.
What weighed most, according to the ministry, was the reduction of exports of manufactured goods, which was 9.4% lower, and of basic products, with a 7.6% drop. There was a reduction in sales of motor vehicles, cargo vehicles, orange juice and land levelling machinery. Among the basic products, there was a reduction in sales of coffee in grain, copper ore, oil and iron ore.
There was growth in exports of some party manufactured goods, like soy oil, aluminium in bulk, gold in partly manufactured form, tin in bulk, sugar in bulk, iron and steel.
*Translated by Mark Ament
