Brasília – The Brazilian trade balance posted the highest deficit for the month of January ever since record started being kept, at a US$ 1.291 billion deficit. The results have been surveyed since 1973. The deficit, recorded last month, is the result of US$ 16.142 billion in exports and US$ 17.433 billion in imports.
The daily export average was US$ 733 million. Daily average imports stood at US$ 792.4 million. The trade balance has been posting a deficit since the first week of last month. The figures were issued today (1st) by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.
The foreign trade result is much lower than the US$ 398 million surplus seen in January 2011. Exports increased by 1.3% compared with January of last year. Imports, on the other hand, grew by 12.3% as against the same month of 2011.
According to the ministry’s secretary of Foreign Trade, Tatiana Prazeres, the deficit in the month is not likely to damage the annual result. “The deficit seen this month does not detract from the positive expectation of closing the year with a trade surplus. In 2009 and 2010, there were deficits in January as well, and we were able to reverse the scenario later on,” she estimated.
The ministry has not set the export target for 2012 yet. Last year, the target was US$ 257 billion. Even though there is no foreign sales goal thus far, the secretary claimed that because of worldwide financial instability, maintaining the same export level as in 2011 will be regarded as a positive result.
Tatiana claimed that the trade balance performance is connected with the international crisis, due to which the demand decreases. Exports to the European Union, said Tatiana, declined by 25% in January. On the other hand, the heated Brazilian economy causes imports to go up. She also said that the influence of the exchange rate in this performance is “undeniable.” “The exchange rate has a twofold impact: it helps boost imports and decrease imports,” she said.
“Within a scenario of crisis, hoping to keep levels as high as last year’s is optimism. The daily average is much higher than those of past years, and we believe that maintaining that pace would be a positive outcome,” she said. Tatiana Prazeres mentioned once again the export-boosting measures the federal government should announce towards the end of the first quarter. “The January figures further underscore the importance of measures that may contribute to Brazilian exports,” she claimed.
In January, exports of basic goods and semi-manufactured goods exports reached a record for the month. Sales amounted to US$ 6.954 billion and US$ 2.503 billion, respectively. Exports of manufactured goods stood at US$ 6.214 billion.
The increase in imports has been ascribed to four categories: fuels and lubricants (+54.7%), consumer goods (+15.7), raw materials and intermediate goods (+5%) and capital goods (+4.8).
From January to December 2011, the Brazilian trade balance showed a US$ 29.79 billion surplus. The figure was 47.8% higher than in the preceding year, when the surplus was US$ 20.15 billion.
*With information from the ANBA Newsroom. Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
