Brasília – The Brazilian trade balance ran a US$ 579 million deficit in the third week of January. The figure was a result of US$ 3.206 billion in exports and US$ 3.785 billion in imports. The daily average export figure was US$ 641.2 million. Daily average imports stood at US$ 757 million. The trade balance has been running a deficit since the first week of the month.
The figures were disclosed this Monday (23rd) by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. Month-to-date, the trade deficit is US$ 1.273 billion. During the three-week period, exports stood at US$ 10.540 billion and imports reached US$ 11.813 billion.
In terms of exports, the daily average for the third week of January was 12.6% lower than in the preceding week. The decline is ascribed to the decrease in shipments of commodities (-21.1%), such as iron ore, petroleum, poultry, soybean and soy chaff. Total exports dropped from US$ 309.8 million to US$ 244.5 million.
Sales of manufactured goods also dropped (-7.8%), from US$ 296.1 million to US$ 272.9 million. The decline was caused by lower exports of automobiles, fuel oils, plastic polymers, land levelling machinery and devices, aluminium oxides and hydroxides, and electric power.
On the other hand, exports of semi-manufactured goods grew by 5.2%. Revenues stood at US$ 109.8 million in the third week of January, as against US$ 104.4 million in the preceding week. The increase was caused by increased sales of semi-manufactured iron and steel products, pulp, unprocessed aluminium, leather skins and hides, and molten iron.
Exports dropped by 3% in the comparison between the first three weeks of January this year (US$ 702.7 million) and the same period in January 2011 (US$ 724.5 million).
Imports dropped by 5.7% in the third week of the month, compared with the preceding week. The decline was mostly due to “the decline in spending on fuels and lubricants, electric-electronic equipment, automobiles and parts, organic and inorganic chemicals, and fertilizers,” according to a statement issued by the ministry. The daily average import figure up until the third week of January, 2012 (US$ 787.5 million) was 11.6% higher than the average for the same period of last year (US$ 705.5 million).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
