Brasília – The Brazilian trade balance closed the first month of the year at a US$ 4.035 billion deficit, the worst monthly result since the start of the historical series in 1993. In the past, the weakest result had been a US$ 1.7 billion deficit in December 1996. The January 2013 deficit is three times higher than the US$ 1.3 billion deficit recorded in January 2012. The reasons were a high import volume and declining sales to Brazil’s leading trade partners.
The country’s imports amounted to US$ 20.003 billion, an all-time high for the month of January, and exports stood at US$ 15.968 billion. The figures were released this Friday (1st) by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. Brazilian imports were up 14.6% from January last year and 3.9% from December.
January-on-January, imports from the United States were up. Imports of gasoline, cargo vehicles, railway vehicles, engines and electric generators, aircraft, fuel oils, and other items were up 32.1%. From the Middle East, Brazil imported oil, chemicals and appliances, up 27.2%, and imports from Africa were up 21.2%, including oil, gas, and cashew nut. January-on-December, imports of fuels and lubricants were up 55.7%.
Exports were down 1.1% January-on-January, and down 26.5% January-on-December. The former decline was driven by purchases of oil (-69.5%), coffee beans (-16.2%), soya bran (-11.9%), tobacco leaves (-7.1%), copper ore (-8.9%) and poultry (-4.5%). The decline was mostly due to basic items, considering that manufactured and semi-manufactured goods exports were up 6.6% and 1%, respectively. Exports of basic goods were down 5.9%.
According to the ministry, in the last 12 months there was a drop in sales to the main target markets of Brazilian exports. Sales to the USA plummeted 19.6% year-on-year, due to decreased purchase of crude oil, wood pulp, auto parts, vehicle engine parts, coffee bean, semi-manufactured iron and steel products, engines, electric generators and compressors.
Trade with China was down 5.8% due to falling sales of pharmaceuticals, vehicle engine parts, plastics, frozen orange juice, and auto parts. Exports to Latin America and the Caribbean were down 5% and exports to the Mercosur were down 0.1%. Argentina was the main contributor to the decline in trade with the Latin American bloc, with a 2.3% reduction in imports of tractors, tyres, cardboard, vehicle engines, cargo vehicles, and pumps and compressors.
Markets to which Brazilian exports increased were Eastern Europe (up 50.9%), Middle East (up 25.5%), European Union (up 9.1%) and Africa (up 2.6%).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
