Brasília – Brazil ran a USD 2.246 billion trade surplus in September, the narrowest result for the month since 2014, the Ministry of Economy’s Special Secretariat for Foreign Trade and International Affairs reported on Tuesday (1). The September 2019 result was down 59.9% from a year ago as per daily average numbers.
Exports came out to USD 18.74 billion, with a daily average down 11.6% from September 2018. Imports amounted to USD 16.494 billion, up 5.7%.
Year-to-date through September, exports fetched USD 167.379 billion, with average daily sales down 6% from a year ago. Imports hit USD 133.589 billion, down 1.8%.
The ensuing trade surplus was USD 33.79 billion, down 19.5% from the year-ago period.
According to the Ministry of Economy’s undersecretary for Foreign Trade Intelligence and Statistics, Herlon Brandão, foreign trade numbers dropped as a result of weaker global economic activity. “Most international organizations impute the retraction of the world economy to the [United States-China] trade war,” he said.
The numbers have caused Brazil’s government to expect a narrower trade surplus by the end of this year. Its yearlong forecast slid from USD 56.7 billion as of last July to a current USD US$ 41.8 billion, which would be a 28% drop relative to 2018. The forecast falls short of the financial market’s USD 51.7 billion surplus estimate.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
