São Paulo – Brazil recorded a USD 923 million trade surplus in January. Exports reached USD 11.246 billion and imports amounted to USD 10.323 billion, the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade reported this Monday (01).
Exports averaged USD 562.3 million a day, down 13.8% from January 2015 and 26.3% from December 2015.
Year-on-year in January, exports went down for semi-finished goods (-21.3%), basic goods (-14.7%) and finished goods (-8.3%).
Semi-finished goods whose exports dropped the most were cast iron (-67%), semi-finished iron and steel products (-53.9%), raw sugar (-45.6%), raw soybean oil (-32.8%), ferroalloys (-13.6%), leathers and hides (-12.2%) and semi-finished gold (-2%).
Basic goods exports dropped for tobacco leaves (-45%), iron ore (-42.4%), coffee beans (-30.2%), crude oil (-28.3%), copper ore (-17.7%), poultry (-2.8%) and beef (-1.9%).
Finished goods exports declined for refined sugar (-45.9%), land levelers (-42.9%), frozen orange juice (-26.3%), vehicle engines and parts (-25.3%), auto parts (-24.3%), flat-rolled steel (-12%), pumps and compressors (-10.8%), aluminum oxides/hydroxides (-8.4%) and paper and paperboard (-3.4%).
Exports to the Middle East dropped 24.2% year-on-year in January as sales went down for maize, sugar, iron ore, soya bran, wheat, coffee beans and land levelers.
Imports
Brazilian imports averaged USD 516.1 million a day in January, down 35.8% from January 2015 and up 7.7% from December 2015.
Imports slid for fuels and lubricants (-60.6%), intermediate goods (-35.4%), consumer goods (-28.8%) and capital goods (-21.8%).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
