Brasília – In the third week of April, Brazil’s trade balance ran a US$ 2.27 billion deficit, as a result of US$ 6.902 billion in imports and US$ 4.631 billion in exports. As a result, the trade balance, which would otherwise post a surplus this month, has gone into a US$ 1.3 billion deficit. Year-to-date, the deficit stands at US$ 6.489 billion.
According to the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, imports have increased as a result of the 785.1% increase in fuels and lubricants imports. According to the ministry, the hike is a consequence of a revision in records of transactions made in past months and last year. The imports were computed slowly due to changes implemented by the Federal Revenue’s Normative Instruction 1,282/2012.
Daily average exports during the week stood at US$ 926.2 million, down 2.6% from the combined result of the first and second weeks of April, which was US$ 950.9 million. Month-to-date through the third week of April, the daily average exports amounted to US$ 942.7 million, down 3.6% from US$ 978.3 million in April 2012.
The week-on-week decline was driven by a 10.8% reduction in sales of semi-manufactured goods, particularly raw sugar, wood pulp, cast iron and gold. Month-to-date, exports of all three product categories have dropped, by 4.8% for manufactured goods; 3.5% for basic goods, and 1.4% for semi-manufactured goods.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
