Brazil recorded a surplus of US$1.4 billion in its trade balance in the third week of August, according to data released this Monday (19) by the Special Secretariat for Foreign Trade and International Affairs of the Ministry of Economy (Secint/ME). The positive balance is the result of exports worth US$1.4 billion and imports of US$1.4 billion.
In the month, exports totaled US$$ 9.990 billion and imports, US$$ 8.768 billion, with a positive balance of US$$ 1.222 billion. In the year, exports totaled US$$ 139.990 billion and imports, US$$ 110.293 billion, with a positive balance of US$$ 29.697 billion.
The third week's average exports reached US$$ 797.7 million, 7% below the average of US$$ 857.4 million up to the second week. The reduction reflected the 19.6% drop in exports of semi-manufactured products – from US$$ 120.7 million to US$$ 97 million – and the 17.5% drop in manufactured products – from US$$ 306.1 million to US$$ 252.5 million.
In semi-manufactured goods, the result came from a decrease in sales of iron/steel, ferroalloys, raw cast iron, gold in semi-manufactured forms and raw zinc. The result of manufactured goods was impacted mainly by the reduction in sales of engines and turbines for aviation, passenger cars, taps, valves and similar devices, in addition to freight vehicles.
On the other hand, sales of basic commodities grew by 4.1%, from US$$ 430.6 million to US$$ 448.2 million, due to soybeans, crude oil, raw cotton, beef and live cattle.
In imports, the balance showed a drop of 16% over the same period of comparison, falling from US$$ 782.9 million on average until the second week to US$$ 657.5 million on average in the third week. In this case, there was an impact mainly from spending on mechanical equipment, organic and inorganic chemicals, electronic equipment, pharmaceuticals, fuels and lubricants.
Monthly Analysis
Comparing the average up to the third week of August 2019 with that of August 2018, Brazilian exports decreased by 11.2%, from US$$ 937.1 million to US$$ 797.7 million. The main reason was the reduction of 24.9% in sales of manufactured products, from US$$ 377.6 million to US$$ 287.1 million, due to flexible iron/steel pipes, centrifuges and filtering or purifying equipment, flat rolled iron/steel products, passenger cars and freight vehicles.
The 4.8% reduction in exports of basic commodities, from US$$ 459.9 million to US$$ 437.9 million, mainly in copper ore, soybeans, soybean meal, crude oil, beef and chicken meat, also had an impact.
The counterpoint was sales of semi-manufactured products, which rose 20.6%, jumping from US$$ 91.9 million to US$$ 110.8 million. The positive performance was driven by semi-manufactured iron/steel, ferroalloys, raw aluminum, raw cane sugar and raw pig iron.
Compared to July 2019, however, there was a reduction of 4.5% in exports, due to a decrease of 8.9% in sales of basic products, which fell from US$$ 480.6 million to US$$ 437.9 million, and of manufactured goods, which fell by 1.2%, from US$$ 287.1 million to US$$ 283.7 million. On the other hand, in this period, sales of semi-manufactured goods increased, from US$$ 104.2 million to US$$ 110.8 million (+6.3%).
Imports
In imports, the daily average until the third week of August 2019 was US$$ 730.7 million, a result 10.5% below the average for August 2018, which reached US$$ 816.4 million. In this comparison, spending fell mainly on copper and its works (-49.8%), fuels and lubricants (-35.5%), motor vehicles and parts (-28.9%), fertilizers (-16.7%) and cereals and products from the milling industry (-14.1%).
Compared to July 2019, there was a retraction of 5.4%, due to falls in aircraft and parts (-51.2%), copper and its works (-42.9%), fuels and lubricants (-32.9%), pharmaceuticals (-18.6%) and plastics and works (-8.6%).
