São Paulo – Totaling USD 627.78 million, Brazilian exports of machinery and equipment declined 8% in April over the same month of last year. In comparison to March, the drop was even sharper: 33.6%. The data was made available by the Brazilian Machinery Builders’ Association (ABIMAQ) on Wednesday (31).<\/p>\n
According to the association, there were spot sales to China’s sanitation sector in March, which resulted in a higher basis of comparison. So much so that March’s growth over February was very high, reaching 55.6%.<\/p>\n
In the first four months, the sector’s exports are on a positive trend, registered 1% growth. From January to April, the machinery and equipment industry had foreign sales revenues totaling USD 2.625 billion. <\/p>\n
Imports, on the other hand, declined in almost any comparison: in April, foreign purchases declined 30.4% over April 2016 and 33.4% over March, totaling USD 841.19 million. In the first four months, they declined 15.2% at USD 4.140 billion. <\/p>\n
With these results, the trade balance of the capital goods industry dropped 33.7% in the first four months of the year if compared to the same period of 2016. The deficit reached USD 1.514 billion. <\/p>\n
The sector’s total revenues, adding up domestic and foreign performances, reached USD 4.892 billion in April, 10.5% less that the same month of last year and 20.6% less than March. From January to April, the sector generated USD 20.146 billion in revenues, a decline of 10% over the first four months of last year. <\/p>\n
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani<\/strong><\/p>\n