São Paulo – The Brazilian balance of trade posted a US$ 554 million surplus in the first week of September, comprising four business days. During the period, the country exported US$ 3.166 billion worth of goods and imported US$ 2.612 billion, the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade reported this Tuesday (8th).
In the week, exports averaged at US$ 791.5 million per day, up 7.3% from the daily average in August. Exports increased by 14.1% for semi-finished goods, 8.9% for finished goods and 4% for basic goods.
The daily average was down 11.2% from US$ 891.6 million a day in September 2014. Exports dropped 14.6% for basic goods, driven by soy bran, crude oil, raw cotton, iron ore, tobacco, coffee and poultry; finished goods exports were down 7.7%, mostly due to slower sales of refined sugar, electric motors and generators, aircraft, pneumatics, cargo vehicles, land leveling machines, and fuel oils; and semi-finished goods exports dropped 4.6%, driven by a decline in sales of cast iron, semi-finished iron and steel products, raw sugar and sawed or split wood.
Imports averaged at US$ 653 million per day in the first week of September, up 7.2% from the daily average in August, driven by aircraft and their parts (188.3%), fertilizers (67.3%), pharmaceuticals (44.7%) and optical instruments (+17.3%).
Daily average imports reached US$ 934.5 million, down 30.1% from a year ago. Imports declined 73.4% for fuels and lubricants, 37.5% for iron and steel products, 33.3% for customer electronics, 22.9% for mechanical equipment and 21.5% for autos and auto parts.
Year-to-date through the first week of September, exports fetched US$ 131.513 billion and imports reached US$ 123.657 billion, resulting in a US$ 7.856 billion surplus.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
