Imports grow 66% in the first two weeks of December

Data released December 14 by the Ministry of Economy’s Foreign Trade Secretariat (SECEX) indicates that in the first two weeks of December, the Brazilian trade balance registered a deficit of US$ 1.12 billion as a result of an increase of 65.9% in imports, which totaled US$ 8.93 billion, and a 1.5% drop in exports, to US$ 7.81 billion. The Brazilian trade flow reached US$ 16.74 billion by the second week of December, increasing 25.8% compared to the daily average of December 2019.

In the year-to-date figures from January to the second week of December, exports fell 5.9% compared to 2019, totaling US$ 199.36 billion. Imports decreased by 10.4% compared to 2019, totaling US$ 149.45 billion. As a result, the trade balance showed a surplus of US$ 49.92 billion, growing 10.5%, and the trade flow decreased by 7.9%, reaching US$ 348.81 billion.

Complete trade balance data.

The import growth until the second week of December was driven by the 80.9% increase in sales of the Manufacturing Industry, which reached US$ 8.60 billion. On the other hand, there was a 15.2% drop in Agriculture, which totaled US$ 0.15 billion, and a 70.3% drop in the Extractive Industry, which totaled US$ 0.13 billion.

Among the Agriculture products, the most imported were rice with husk – paddy or raw (+ 665.1%), raw or roasted cocoa (+ 210,054%), and soy (+ 522.1%). In the Extractive Industry, there were increases in purchases of raw fertilizers, except organic fertilizers (+ 58.4%), copper ores and their concentrates (+ 26.4%), and aluminum ores and their concentrates (+ 131.1%). In the Manufacturing Industry, the main increases were in iron or steelworks and other articles of common metals (+ 86.4%), taps, valves and similar devices for plumbing, boilers, reservoirs, vats and other containers (+66. 3%) and platforms, vessels and other floating structures (+ 18,054.7%).

Despite the growth in total imports, SECEX recorded a decrease in external purchases of unmilled wheat and rye (-59.3%), unground barley (-49.4%), and vegetables, fresh or chilled (-36, 3%), in Agriculture.

In the Extractive Industry, purchases of other ores and concentrates of base metals decreased (-40.3%), coal, even in powder, but not agglomerated (-36.4%) and crude oil or bituminous mineral oils, raw (-87.3%).

In the Manufacturing Industry, imports of petroleum fuel oils or bituminous minerals fell, except crude oils (-21.3%), non-electric engines and machines and their parts, except piston engines and generators (-95.9 %), and passenger cars (-71.4%).

Exports

On the export side, the decline until the second week of December was influenced by the 15.6% drop in sales of Agriculture, which totaled US$ 1.08 billion, and 4.2% in the Extractive Industry, with US$ 2.04 billion. In the Manufacturing Industry, there was an increase of 3.8%, reaching US$ 4.66 billion.

The retraction in exports was mainly driven by the drop in sales of live animals, not including fish or crustaceans (-76.2%); paddy or raw rice (-99.8%), and soy (-90.3%) in Agriculture; copper ores and concentrates (-14.8%), aluminum ores and concentrates (-65.5%), and crude oil or crude bituminous minerals (-44.4%) in the Extractive Industry; soy bran and other animal feed, excluding unground cereals, meat and other animal meal (-28.9%); cellulose (-30.1%); and aircraft and other equipment, including parts (-41.2 %) in the Manufacturing Industry.

There was an increase in sales of unground corn, except sweet corn (+ 43.6%), unroasted coffee (+ 33.6%) and raw cotton (+ 27.2%) in Agriculture; other crude minerals (+ 23.1%), iron ore and concentrates (+ 80.1%) and nickel ores and concentrates (+ 126,996,611%) in the Extractive Industry; sugars and molasses (+ 156.7%); alumina (aluminum oxide), except artificial corundum (+ 74%) and combustible oils from petroleum or bituminous minerals (except crude oils) (+ 90.0%) in the Transformation industry.

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