São Paulo – Brazil’s imports declined more than its exports in November, leading to a USD 1.197 billion trade surplus. Year-to-date through November, the country posted a USD 13.442 billion surplus, the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade reported this Tuesday (1st) in the federal capital Brasília.<\/p>\n
In November, exports reached USD 13.806 billion, averaging USD 690.3 million a day, down 11.8% from a year ago. <\/p>\n
Brazil saw its exports shrink across all three product categories. In November, the country exported USD 5.864 billion worth of basic goods, down 14.3% from 2014. Semi-finished goods exports fetched USD 2.016 billion, down 13.5%. Finished goods exports dropped 7% to USD 5.572 billion.<\/p>\n
Basic goods exports declined the most for crude oil (down 51.2% to USD 672 million), iron ore (down 43% to USD 901 million), copper ore (down 21.1%, to USD 97 million) and coffee beans down 19.5% to USD 461 million).<\/p>\n
The semi-finished goods whose exports shrank the most were semi-finished iron\/steel (down 52.8% to USD 135 million) and ferroalloys (down 36.9% to USD 137 million). Finished goods exports that saw the sharpest declines were land-leveling machinery (down 40.6% to USD 84 million), flat-rolled steel (down 26.8% to USD 138 million) and auto parts (down 21.4% to USD 166 million).<\/p>\n
The only market whose imports from Brazil increased in November was Asia. Sales were up 5.2%, fueled by China’s imports of soybean, centrifuges, meats, ferroalloys, and aluminum oxides\/hydroxides. Sales to all other destinations went down. Brazil’s exports to the Middle East dropped 24.4%, and sales to Africa declined 22.6%. <\/p>\n
Brazil imported USD 12.609 billion worth of goods in November, averaging USD 630.5 million per day. The average is 30.2% lower than in November of last year. Imports dropped the most for fuels and lubricants (down 39.6%), consumer goods (down 33.6%), capital goods (down 32.3%) and raw materials and intermediate goods (down 24.6%). Brazil’s imports from all parts of the world went down. Imports from the Middle East dropped 51.6%, and imports from Africa dropped 25.1%.<\/p>\n
Year-to-date through November, USD 174.351 billion worth of products were exported from Brazil, down 14.9% from the comparable period in 2014. Imports dropped 23.1% to USD 160.909 billion until November. Year-to-date through November of last year, Brazil ran a USD 4.348 billion trade deficit. <\/p>\n
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/strong><\/p>\n