São Paulo – Brazilian market increased its imports of chemical products by 13% in January compared to the same month last year, according to information released by Associação Brasileira da Indústria Química (ABIQUIM). Overall, USD 3.6 billion were spent purchasing these products. Over December of last year, the growth was by 7.3%.
Fertilizers feedstock accounted for 17.3% of the chemical imports in Brazil, reaching USD 618.8 million. This was a 57.7% increase in the imports of the product over January 2018. The volumes of foreign purchases of fertilizers also increased considerably, by 36.1% in the same comparison, standing at 2.1 million tons in January.
Overall, Brazilian imports of chemical products climbed 24.2% in volume in January over the same month of last year, reaching 3.6 million tons. Compared to December, however, it was a 13.6% drop, according to ABIQUIM. Fertilizers feedstock accounted for 58.3% of the total imports.
Brazilian trade balance of chemical products has a deficit since Brazil imports more than it exports in the sector. In January, the negative balance stood at USD 2.5 billion, a record for months of January in the entire historical series of the survey. In twelve months, from February 2018 to January this year, foreign trade in the segment posted a USD 30.2 billion.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
