São Paulo – Trade between Brazil to the Middle East and Africa dropped in August this year as against the same period in 2011, according to trade balance figures disclosed in Brasília, on Monday (03), by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. In the period, the Brazilian trade balance surplus also dropped. According to the Ministry, the drop in export performance is caused by the international crisis.
According to the Ministry, sales to the Middle East totalled US$ 1.128 billion in August, or US$ 49 million, on average, per working day. The reduction in the daily average as against 2011 was 25.4%. This reduction was boosted by lower revenues obtained with iron ore, sugar, grain, soy chaff and machinery and equipment.
Import from the region, which dropped 69.4% in the daily average, were influenced in the reduction of shipments of crude oil, plastics and organic chemicals. Imports totalled US$ 166 million in August. In the same month in 2011, they were US$ 543 million.
To Africa, the drop in the daily average of exports was 16.9%. In August, the average was US$ 48.8 million per day. In total, sales reached US$ 1.122 billion in the month. The reduction in sales to Africa resulted from lower vehicle and parts, sugar and oil and fuel sales.
Brazilian imports from Africa totalled US$ 890 million in August this year. On the daily average, Brazil imported US$ 38.7 million from Africa in August, a reduction of 32.5% over the same period in 2011. Among the products that most influenced imports, according to the Ministry of Development, are crude oil, fruit and precious metals.
Accumulated in the year
In the accumulated result for the year, Brazil also recorded reductions in exports: sales to the Middle East totalled US$ 7.039 billion. From January to August 2011, exports reached US$ 8.079 billion. The products that most influenced the reduction in sales in the first eight months of the year were meats, sugars, ores, soy in grain, coffee, aircraft and parts, vehicles and parts.
Imports from the Middle East grew 24.6% from January to August, boosted by the growth in purchases of oil, fertilizers, aircraft parts, organic chemicals, aluminium, pharmaceutical, glass and ironworks products. From January to August, imports totalled US$ 4.856 billion, 24.6% more than in the same period in 2011.
Exports to Africa dropped 1.2% in the accumulated result for the year, mainly due to sugar, wrought iron, plastics and soy oil in bulk. Imports from the African continent also dropped: this year they totalled US$ 9.79 billion, 5.6% less than in the first eight months of 2011. The performance was mainly due to drops in purchases of oil, chemicals, machinery and equipment and plastics.
General performance
Reductions in Brazil’s exports and imports were not restricted to Africa and the Middle East. The country’s trade balance surplus in August totalled US$ 3.277 billion, 17.1% less than that obtained one year before. In the accumulated result for the year, the surplus was US$ 13.172 billion, 34.8% less than that recorded from January to August 2011.
According to the Ministry, in the accumulated result for this year, shipments of partly-manufactured products dropped 10.2%, those of basic products, 4.9% and those of manufactured products, 3% as against the totals for the period from January to August last year. In the case of imports, in turn, purchases of fuel and lubricants grew 2.3%, those of capital goods, 1.3%, and those of consumer goods, 0.7%. Imports of raw materials and intermediate materials dropped 3.1% in the period.
The countries that sold most to Brazil from January to August were China (US$ 22.2 billion), the United States (US$ 21.5 billion), Argentina (US$ 10.3 billion), Germany (US$ 9.6 billion) and South Korea (US$ 6.2 billion). Among the main destinations for exports are: China (US$ 29.1 billion), the United States (US$ 18.7 billion), Argentina (US$ 12 billion), the Netherlands (US$ 9.8 billion) and Germany (US$ 4.8 billion).
*Translated by Mark Ament
