São Paulo – Brazilian exports of machinery and equipment fetched US$ 1.235 billion in March, a 55.9% increase over February and 21.9% over March of last year, according to data released this Wednesday (6th) by the Brazilian Machinery and Equipment Industry Association (Abimaq).
Counting the cumulative amount in Q1, external sales fetched US$ 2.812 billion, a drop of 11.9% in comparison to the same period of 2014.
According to Abimaq, exports from almost all industry sectors went up in March, with emphasis on oil and sustainable energy, infrastructure and basic industry machinery.
In Q1, the only increase in machinery and equipment shipments occurred in infrastructure and basic industry. The main markets for Brazilian exports of capital goods are Latin America, United States and Europe.
On the other end, Brazilian imports of machinery and equipment totaled US$ 2.173 billion. There was an increase of 19.1% over February, but a drop of 7.1% when compared to March of last year.
From January to March, foreign purchases amounted to US$ 6.614 billion, a drop of 12.7% in comparison to the same period of 2014.
United States are on the top of the list among capital goods supplier to Brazil, followed by China, Germany and Italy.
With these results, the trade balance of the sector posted a deficit of US$ 939 million in March, a decline of 9.1% over February and of US$ 3.082 billion in Q1, a drop of 12.6% over the 2014 Q1.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
