China is the number one contributor to the high levels experienced in exports

The value of Brazilian exports increased 34% from 2020 to 2021, offsetting the 5.4% loss seen in the previous year. Last year, Brazil’s growth resulted in a record shipment worth US$ 280.6 billion, although unevenly distributed across destinations.

The increase in shipments since pre-pandemic times was almost entirely directed to China, which grew in the share of Brazilian exports in the period. The Chinese accounted for 31.3% of shipments by Brazil last year, up from 28.7% in 2019. In the same time span, Asia as a whole increased four percentage points, reaching 46.4% in 2021.

China’s share increased because from 2019 onwards Brazilian exports to the country grew 38.5%, at a faster pace than the average of total shipments. Exports to the United States, European Union, and South America also advanced from 2019 to 2021, but at lower rates.

See below the track record of cargo handling between Brazil and China from 2019 onwards. The data are from DataLiner:

Cargo handling between Brazil and China | Jan 2019 to Nov 2021 | WTMT

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

As a result, the American share in the value distribution of Brazilian exports fell from 13.4% to 11.1% in these years. During the same time period, the European Union’s share fell from 13.6% to 13%, the lowest in the series since 1997. The figures do not include the United Kingdom, which exited the EU in December 2020.

South America’s share dropped from 12.7% to 12.1%, although it wasn’t the lowest share recorded in history because the participation of the region was 10.8% last year when the economy was the most severely hit by the pandemic.

When looking only at volumes and not computing the price effect, the Foreign Trade Indicator (Icomex), surveyed by the Brazilian Institute of Economics at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV Ibre), also shows an increase of shipments destined to China over a longer period.

The survey shows that, despite slowdowns and even declines in some periods, the quantity sent to China has been increasing since 2008, according to Lia Valls, an associate researcher at FGV Ibre.

According to Icomex, Brazil’s export volume to Asia increased by more than 360% compared to 2008. In the other direction, the volume of goods sent to the United States decreased by 18.6%. Argentina and the European Union both saw a fall of 30% and 28%, respectively, when compared to the same period last year.

It’s vital to emphasize the effect of volumes, says Lia, because last year the financial worth of items exported by Brazil increased mostly owing to the price factor, pushed by significant items on the export agenda like agricultural and metallic commodities. The rising star was iron ore.

Also according to Icomex, the average price of total exports from Brazil rose 29.3% in 2021 vis-a-vis the previous year. In terms of volume, shipments increased at a much slower pace, at 3.2%.

Source: Valor Econômico

To read the full original article please visit:

https://valor.globo.com/brasil/noticia/2022/01/14/china-e-maior-responsavel-por-exportacao-recorde.ghtml

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