São Paulo – Brazilian export revenues exceeded US$ 256 billion last year, a 26.8% increase over the US$ 202 billion figure recorded in 2010. Imports stood at US$ 226 billion, a 24.5% increase using the same basis of comparison. The figures were announced this Monday (2nd) by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. Both the foreign sales and purchases figures are all-time highs.
The Brazilian balance of trade ran a surplus of nearly US$ 30 billion in 2011, a figure 47.8% higher than in the preceding year. The flow of trade, i.e. the sum of exports and imports, set a new record at US$ 482.3 billion, 25.7% more than in 2010.
The figures for December alone, however, show a reduction in the rate of growth of foreign trade toward the end of the year. Exports reached US$ 22.13 billion. There was a 10.6% increase compared with the same month of 2010, based on daily average figures, but compared with November 2011, the figure represents a decline of 7.6%.
Imports behaved in a similar fashion, having reached US$ 18.3 billion in December, a 22.9% increase over the same month of the preceding year, based on daily average figures, but a 21.4% decrease compared with November 2011. The monthly surplus stood at US$ 3.8 billion, 28.6% lower than in December 2010.
To the foreign trade secretary at the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Tatiana Prazeres, the lower growth rate was a consequence of the international crisis. “It was an important month when it comes to exports, imports and Brazilian foreign trade. We would like to stress that the reduced rate of exports, when compared with November, is a reflection of the international scenario,” she said, according to Agência Brasil.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
