São Paulo – Shipments made by Brazilian trading companies reached US$ 23.658 billion in 2013, an increase by 4.9% in relation to 2012. The share of these companies in Brazil’s total foreign sales went from 9.3% to 9.8% from one year to the next, according to information released by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC).
The main markets served by the foreign trade companies were China, Japan, Holland, South Korea and Germany, where China had a 41.7% share, much above the other countries.
Among the Arabs, the countries that most imported via trading companies were Oman, with US$ 359 million, representing a drop by 16.5% in relation to 2012; Egypt with US$ 220 million and a drop by 39% using the same comparison; Saudi Arabia, with US$ 179.5 million, an increase by 21%; Libya, with US$ 138 million and an increase by 132%; Morocco, with US$ 52.6 million and a drop by 8%; and Algeria, with US$ 47 million, and an increase by 21.6% in relation to the previous year.
According to the MDIC, basic products accounted for 89% of foreign trade companies’ exports, where top products were iron ore, soy, corn, soy chaff and poultry. Industrialized goods had an 11% share, and the high sellers included orange juice, sugar and soluble coffee.
Imports, on the other hand, declined by 11% in 2013 in relation to 2012, from US$ 4.961 billion to US$ 4.417 billion. Trading companies’ share in total Brazilian imports dropped from 2.2% to 1.8%.
The main products in the imports basket were cars, cell phones, jets, tires and computers. Industrialized products represented 97.1% of the total.
*Translated by Silvia Lindsey
