Brasília – Driven by the maize and soy crops, the Brazilian trade balance showed a US$ 285 million surplus in the first week of June, the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade reported this Monday (10th). The surplus was a result of US$ 5.367 billion in exports and US$ 5.082 billion in imports.
After last week’s result, the year-to-date trade deficit is down to US$ 5.109 billion, as against US$ 5.392 billion as of late May. Year-to-date exports stand at US$ 98.656 billion, and imports stand at US$ 103.765 billion.
In the same period last year, Brazil’s trade balance showed a US$ 6.563 billion surplus. This year’s deficit is a result of delayed computing of US$ 4.5 billion worth of imports by Petrobras. The operations took place last year, but were only included in trade calculations from January through May.
Based on daily average figures, exports were up 10.9% in the first week of June this year from the first week of June 2012. The highlight was primary goods exports, which averaged at US$ 586.5 million per working day, up 25.3%. The increase was driven by maize, soya bran, meat, oil, rice, and soya bean.
Daily average exports of semi-manufactured goods were up 12.2%. However, sales of industrialized goods were down 6.7% using the same basis of comparison.
Imports kept increasing last week, though at a lower rate than exports. In the first five working days of June, imports were up 9.6% based on daily average figures. The growth was driven by imports of pharmaceuticals (+56.9%), automobiles and auto parts (+54.6%) and consumer electronics (+35.6%).
Despite last week’s performance, year-to-date imports are still growing at a higher rate than exports. According to the ministry, imports are up 10.2% so far this year, based on daily averages. Exports are down 2.2%.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
