Trade balance registered US$1.4 billion surplus in third week of March

The trade balance registered a surplus of US$1.402 billion and a cumulative trade account of US$7.886 billion in the third week of March. The data from the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex) released on Monday (23/03), indicated exports of US$4.644 billion and imports of US$3.242 billion.

During the month, exports totaled US$13.257 billion and imports US$10.575 billion, with a positive balance of US$2.683 billion and a trade flow of US$23.832 billion. For the year-to-date, exports totaled US$44.114 billion and imports US$40.009 billion, with a positive trade balance of US$4.105 billion and a trade flow of US$84.123 billion.

Key data

The export average for the third week reached US$928.7 million, a result 7.8% above the average of US$861.4 million registered by the second week.  This was driven by an increase in exports of semi-manufactured products, raw sugar, cast iron, raw aluminum, cellulose, raw soy oil, and commodities.

On the other hand, exports of manufactured products fell, mainly due to fuel oils, gasoline, non-frozen orange juice, automobiles aviation, engine parts and turbines. On the import side, there was a 11.6% fall over the same period – third week average of US$648.4 million, compared with US$733.3 million by the second week -, mainly explained by the decrease in spending on electrical and electronic equipment, organic and inorganic chemicals, aircraft and parts, filaments and synthetic/artificial fibers, as well as aluminum.

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