São Paulo – Brazilian exports amounted to US$ 21.766 billion in October, down 10.6% from the same month last year based on daily average figures. Exports have increased only to the Middle East (20.4%) and Eastern Europe (65.8%). Sales to all other regions have declined. The figures were released this Thursday (1st) by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.
The performance was impacted by a 23.1% decline in exports of basic goods, particularly oil, coffee, iron ore, soy, cotton and soy meat. Exports of semi-manufactured goods were up 4.5%, and exports of manufactured goods were up 0.9%.
Year-to-date as of late October, exports stood at US$ 202.362 billion, down 5.5% from the same period in 2011 based on daily average figures. Basic goods exports were down 7.3%, semi-manufactured goods exports were down 9.2%, and manufactured goods exports were down 2%.
On the other hand, imports reached US$ 20.104 billion in October, down 0.5% from October last year based on daily average figures, resulting in a US$ 1.662 billion trade surplus.
In the ten-month period ended October, imports stood at US$ 184.976 billion, down 1.9% from the same period in 2011, resulting in a US$ 17.386 surplus on the Brazilian side.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
