Brasília – Although it showed a surplus in November, the Brazilian trade balance has had the worst year-to-date result since 2000. According to figures released this Monday (2nd) by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, there was a US$ 89 million deficit year-to-date through November.
Bearish exports and bullish imports explain the poor result. Year-to-date through November, Brazil exported US$ 221.333 billion worth of products, down 1.1% on average per working day from the same period last year. Imports, however, amounted to US$ 221.422 billion, up 7.2% using the same basis of comparison.
According to the ministry, scheduled interruptions of production at oil rigs caused crude oil exports to decline in 2013. By the same token, increased fuel consumption drove oil products imports up. Additionally, a change in Petrobras’ import accounting records caused very poor trade balance results from January to April.
In November, there was a US$ 1.74 billion trade surplus. It was the third best result this year, after those of June (US$ 2.308 billion) and September (US$ 2.145 billion). In November, Brazil exported the equivalent of US$ 20.862 billion and imported US$ 19.122 billion.
Exports averaged at US$ 1.043 billion per day, up 1.9% from November 2012 and up 5.1% from October 2013. Imports were down 7.5% November-on-November. Imports were down 4.6% in November from October 2013.
Products
Year-to-date, semi-manufactured goods exports were down 8.7% from the same period in 2012. Basic goods exports were down 0.4% and manufactured goods exports were up 0.6%. The semi-manufactured goods whose exports declined the most were raw soy oil (down 37.1%), semi-manufactured iron and steel products (-30.5%), cast iron (-24.8%) and crude aluminium (-23.2%).
Regarding basic goods, cotton exports were down 46.1% year-to-date through November this year from the same period in 2012. Crude oil exports were down 38.1%, coffee exports were down 18.6% and poultry exports were down 10%. With regard to manufactured goods, the ministry reports that oil rig exports were up a 349.5%, passenger cars exports were up 46.9%, hydrocarbons and their products were up 19.7%, cargo vehicles were up 4.2% and tractors exports were up 2.2%.
The leading importers of products from Brazil year-to-date through November were China (at US$ 42.7 billion), United States (US$ 22.6 billion), Argentina (US$ 18.2 billion), the Netherlands (US$ 16.1 billion) and Japan (US$ 7.2 billion). This year, sales have declined by 9.4% to the United States, 9.1% to Africa, 7% to the Middle East, 5.6% to Eastern Europe and 3.4% to the European Union. Exports were up 5.1% to the Mercosur, 3.5% to Asia and 1.3% to Central America.
Imports of fuels and lubricants have increased (13.8%), as did those of raw materials and intermediate goods (6.9%), capital goods (5.6%) and consumer goods (4%). The leading exporters of products to Brazil were China, United States, Argentina, Germany, and South Korea.
*With information from the ANBA Newsroom. Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
