São Paulo – Brazil’s imports declined more than its exports in November, leading to a USD 1.197 billion trade surplus. Year-to-date through November, the country posted a USD 13.442 billion surplus, the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade reported this Tuesday (1st) in the federal capital Brasília.
In November, exports reached USD 13.806 billion, averaging USD 690.3 million a day, down 11.8% from a year ago.
Brazil saw its exports shrink across all three product categories. In November, the country exported USD 5.864 billion worth of basic goods, down 14.3% from 2014. Semi-finished goods exports fetched USD 2.016 billion, down 13.5%. Finished goods exports dropped 7% to USD 5.572 billion.
Basic goods exports declined the most for crude oil (down 51.2% to USD 672 million), iron ore (down 43% to USD 901 million), copper ore (down 21.1%, to USD 97 million) and coffee beans down 19.5% to USD 461 million).
The semi-finished goods whose exports shrank the most were semi-finished iron/steel (down 52.8% to USD 135 million) and ferroalloys (down 36.9% to USD 137 million). Finished goods exports that saw the sharpest declines were land-leveling machinery (down 40.6% to USD 84 million), flat-rolled steel (down 26.8% to USD 138 million) and auto parts (down 21.4% to USD 166 million).
The only market whose imports from Brazil increased in November was Asia. Sales were up 5.2%, fueled by China’s imports of soybean, centrifuges, meats, ferroalloys, and aluminum oxides/hydroxides. Sales to all other destinations went down. Brazil’s exports to the Middle East dropped 24.4%, and sales to Africa declined 22.6%.
Brazil imported USD 12.609 billion worth of goods in November, averaging USD 630.5 million per day. The average is 30.2% lower than in November of last year. Imports dropped the most for fuels and lubricants (down 39.6%), consumer goods (down 33.6%), capital goods (down 32.3%) and raw materials and intermediate goods (down 24.6%). Brazil’s imports from all parts of the world went down. Imports from the Middle East dropped 51.6%, and imports from Africa dropped 25.1%.
Year-to-date through November, USD 174.351 billion worth of products were exported from Brazil, down 14.9% from the comparable period in 2014. Imports dropped 23.1% to USD 160.909 billion until November. Year-to-date through November of last year, Brazil ran a USD 4.348 billion trade deficit.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum