São Paulo – The Brazilian trade balance ended the fourth week of the month in deficit. According to information disclosed this Monday (25th) by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC), imports between the 18th and 24th surpassed exports by US$ 214 million.<\/p>\n
According to data from the MDIC, exports amounted to US$ 4.308 billion in the period, averaging US$ 861.6 million per day. Daily average exports were 12.3% lower than in the third week of the month. Month-to-date through the 24th, exports averaged US$ 944.4 million a day, 3% below August 2013.<\/p>\n
Imports reached US$ 4.522 billion last week, averaging US$ 904.4 million per day. According to the MDIC, the daily average was down 4.8% from the third week of August. When compared to the daily average of August 2013, imports amounted to US$ 936 million by last week, an increase of 1.9%.<\/p>\n
According to the MDIC, exports were down in the fourth week due to a decline in basic goods shipments, which dropped by 23.4% in relation to the third week of the month, and in manufactured goods exports, which declined by 0.8%. Basic goods whose exports declined the most include soy beans, iron ore, crude oil, soy bran and meat. Manufactured goods whose exports dropped include auto parts, plastic polymers, cargo vehicles and flat-rolled products.<\/p>\n
Semi-manufactured goods exports increased by 0.2% from the third week of the month, highlighting semi-manufactured gold, ferroalloys and raw aluminium. Among imports, expenditure on fuel and lubricants, plastic and plastic works, steel products and pharmaceutical products has declined.<\/p>\n
In the 161 working days this year, exports amounted to US$ 148.665 billion and imports, to US$ 149.450 billion. The Brazilian trade balance deficit is running a US$ 785 million deficit. In the same period last year, the deficit stood at US$ 3.835 billion.<\/p>\n
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça<\/strong><\/p>\n