São Paulo – The Brazilian trade balance registered a surplus of US$ 352 million last week, according to data released this Monday (21st) by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC). The number is the result of exports of US$ 3.67 billion and imports of US$ 3.31 billion.
Year-to-date ending last week, external sales totaled US$ 138.4 billion, with purchases totaling US$ 129.3 billion. The trade balance is positive with a US$ 9 billion surplus, In the month, exports stand at US$ 10 billion, and imports at US$ 8.2 billion, with a US$ 1.8 billion surplus.
Last week, which had five business days, the daily average of exports was of US$ 734 million, a decline of 8.4% over the first two weeks of September. There was a retraction of 10.9% in sales of finished goods, due especially to oil rig platforms, autoparts, flat-rolled products, autos, aircrafts, polymers and engines for vehicles.
Sales of basic goods also declined 7.6%, especially due to the performance of soybeans, crude oil, poultry, beef, pork, coffee beans and maize grains. Exports of semi-finished were the only ones that increased last week, in 1%, driven by wood pulp, raw sugar, semi-finished iron and steel products, raw aluminum and ferro-alloys.
The daily average of imports increased 6.8% last week over the first fifteen days of the month and stood at US$ 663.3 million. There was an increase in imports of fuels, mechanical equipment and electronic devices in the period.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
