São Paulo – Totaling USD 627.78 million, Brazilian exports of machinery and equipment declined 8% in April over the same month of last year. In comparison to March, the drop was even sharper: 33.6%. The data was made available by the Brazilian Machinery Builders’ Association (ABIMAQ) on Wednesday (31).
According to the association, there were spot sales to China’s sanitation sector in March, which resulted in a higher basis of comparison. So much so that March’s growth over February was very high, reaching 55.6%.
In the first four months, the sector’s exports are on a positive trend, registered 1% growth. From January to April, the machinery and equipment industry had foreign sales revenues totaling USD 2.625 billion.
Imports, on the other hand, declined in almost any comparison: in April, foreign purchases declined 30.4% over April 2016 and 33.4% over March, totaling USD 841.19 million. In the first four months, they declined 15.2% at USD 4.140 billion.
With these results, the trade balance of the capital goods industry dropped 33.7% in the first four months of the year if compared to the same period of 2016. The deficit reached USD 1.514 billion.
The sector’s total revenues, adding up domestic and foreign performances, reached USD 4.892 billion in April, 10.5% less that the same month of last year and 20.6% less than March. From January to April, the sector generated USD 20.146 billion in revenues, a decline of 10% over the first four months of last year.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
