São Paulo – The Brazilian trade balance recorded a deficit of US$ 50 million in the first week of March, i.e., the first five business days. The data was released this Monday (9th) by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC), in Brasilia. In this time period, Brazil exported US$ 3.93 billion and imported US$ 3.98 billion. <\/p>\n
According to the MDIC’s data, both Brazil’s exports and imports dropped in comparison to March of last year. By the daily average, Brazil shipped US$ 786 million in products to other countries, a decline of 15.3% in comparison to March of 2014. On the other end, Brazil imported US$ 796 million per day, a decline of 13.6% over the same period of last year. <\/p>\n
Exports of basic goods dropped 28.5% in the first week of this month in comparison to March of last year. The items that declined the most, according to the MDIC’s data, were iron ore, soybean in grains, pork, poultry, beef and crude oil. Among semi-finished goods exports, the decline was of 0.2% due to drops in exports of raw soybean oil and semi-manufactured products of gold and iron\/steel. <\/p>\n
While the exports of manufactured products had a small increase, going from a daily average of US$ 316.3 million in March of last year to US$ 316.4 million now, with an increase in sales of cast iron tubes, flat-rolled products, orange juice and passenger cars. <\/p>\n
Among the imports, the decline occurred with mineral and chemical fertilizers (-43.9%), autos and auto parts (-31.3%), rubber and works (-22.5%), mechanical equipment (-22.3%) and pharmaceuticals (-15.8%). <\/p>\n
Year-to-date, the trade balance deficit stands at US$ 6.065 billion, below the US$ 6.088 billion recorded in the first week of March of last year. In 2015, until now, Brazil exported US$ 29.726 billion and imported US$ 35.791 billion. <\/p>\n
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani<\/strong><\/p>\n