São Paulo – From January to October, exports from Brazil reached USD 153.088 billion, down 5.1% from the comparable period in 2015 based on average daily numbers. Imports amounted to USD 114.561 billion, down 23.1%. The resulting trade surplus was USD 38.527 billion, 215% higher than in the first ten months of 2015. The number is an all-time high for the period at hand.
The data was made available this Tuesday (1) by the Brazilian Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services. State-run news outlet Agência Brasil said the government expects a trade surplus in the USD 45-to-50 billion range this year.
Exports were down 10% for basic goods, down 1.6% for finished goods, and up 3.5% for semi-finished goods.
The drop in basic goods exports was driven by crude oil, coffee, iron ore, tobacco, copper ore, soy and soy bran, beef and poultry. Foreign sales of pork, maize and cotton went up.
Finished goods sales weakened on the back of auto parts, flat-rolled iron and steel products, vehicle motors and parts, electric motors and generators, aluminum oxides and hydroxides, and pumps and compressors. Foreign sales went up for oil rigs, automobiles, cargo vehicles, ethanol, flexible iron and steel pipes, aircraft, refined sugar, orange juice, pneumatics, earthworks machinery and plastic polymers.
Semi-finished goods whose sales increased were raw sugar, semi-processed gold and timber.
Region-wise, exports increased only to Oceania (14.7%) and the Middle East (0.8%). In the latter case, top-selling items were sugar, soy, maize, automobiles, cast iron pipes, chassis and motors, aircraft, copper bars, beef, and precious and semi-precious stones.
Imports went down for fuels and lubricants (-44.7%), consumer goods (-23.5%), capital goods (-21.9%) and finished goods (18.7%). Imports from all source regions dropped.
Month
October alone saw Brazil gross USD 13.721 billion from exports, a 10.2% drop from October 2015 as per average daily numbers. Imports stood at USD 11.375 billion, down 15%. A USD 2.346 billion trade surplus ensued, up 17.5% from October 2015. It was the widest surplus for an October since 2011.
Exports went down 18.6% for basic goods, 4% for finished goods and 0.4% for semi-finished goods (-4%).
Oceania was the only region that saw exports from Brazil go up, by 48.9%. Sales to the Middle East were close to flat, with a 0.01% increase driven by autos, aluminum oxides and hydroxides, iron ore, electric motors and generators, chassis and motors, copper bars, precious and semi-precious stones and raw sugar.
Imports dropped for fuels and lubricants (-52.8%), capital goods (-19.9%), consumer goods (-13.3%) and semi-finished goods (-4.1%). Imports from all parts of the world dropped.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
