Economy

Brazilian trade balance registers US$1.6 billion surplus in second week of June

Jun, 16, 2020 Posted by Sylvia Schandert

Week 202024

The Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex) of the Economy Ministry released data on Brazil’s trade balance on Monday, June 15. It showed Brazil registered a surplus of US$1.599 billion and a trade flow of US$6.309 billion in the second week of June (which had only four working days) due to US$3.954 billion worth of exports and US$2.355 billion of imports.

In the year-to-date, exports totaled US$92.611 billion and imports, US$73.72 billion, with a positive balance of US$18.891 billion and a trade flow of US$166.332 billion.

Analysis of the month

On the export side, daily average exports until the second week of June stood at US$899.33 million, compared with US$968.74 million year-on-year, marking a decrease of 7.2%, due to the decrease in sales in the mining industry (-22.6%) and in manufacturing (-15.7%). On the other hand, there was a significant increase in agribusiness (+ 34.3%).

The drop in exports was mainly driven by the decrease in sales of the following products: crude petroleum oils or bituminous minerals (-47.1%); iron ore and concentrates (-6.5%); copper ores and concentrates (-18.2%); aluminum ores and concentrates (-29.4%) and coal, even in powder, but not agglomerated (-99.9%).

Regarding the manufacturing industry, the drop in exports was mainly due to a decrease in aircraft exports and related equipment such as aircraft parts (-89.4%); poultry meat and its edible offal, fresh, chilled or frozen (-33.4%); non-electric engines and machines, and their parts, except piston engines and generators (-82.9%); pig iron, spiegel, sponge iron, granules and powder of iron or steel and ferroalloys (-27.4%); and motor vehicles for the transportation of goods and special uses (-57.7%).

On the import side, the daily average was US$530.5 million in the first half of June, which is 22.6% down on year-ago levels. Imports fell mainly in agriculture (-22.3%) and manufacturing (-25.8%). Meanwhile, the mining industry saw an increase of 21.2%.

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