The drop in imports at a greater pace than the reduction in exports caused the trade balance to record a record surplus in September, reports “Agência Brasil”. Last month, the country exported US$ 6.164 billion more than it imported, the best result for the month since the beginning of the historical series, in 1989.
Both exports and imports fell last month. In September, the country sold US$ 18.459 billion abroad, with a decrease of 9.1% according to the daily average criterion in relation to the same month last year. Imports, however, fell further, totaling US$ 12.296 billion, a reduction of 25.5% also based on the daily average.
With September's result, the trade balance accumulated a surplus of US$ 42.445 billion in the first nine months of the year. This is the second best result in the historical series for the period, behind January to September 2017 (surplus of US$ 53.258 billion).
In 2020, exports totaled US$ 156.780 billion, a decrease of 7% compared to the same period in 2019 based on the daily average. Imports total US$ 114.336 billion, a decrease of 14% using the same criteria.
Most of the increase in the balance in September is explained by the drop in imports from the manufacturing industry, which fell by US$ 181.35 million by the daily average compared to the same month last year, and from the extractive industry, whose purchases from abroad shrank by US$ 18.32 million. On the export side, manufacturing industry sales fell US$ 108.01 million. On the other hand, sales in the extractive industry increased by US$ 19.65 million, and agricultural sales increased by US$ 5.38 million in the same comparison.
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Among the products that drove the growth of agricultural exports in September, the highlights were unroasted coffee, whose value sold increased by US$ 2.453 million in the daily average criterion in relation to the same month last year, and live animals, with an increase of US$ 1.3 million in the same comparison.
In the extractive industry, iron ore exports increased, with an increase of US$ 48.4 million compared to September last year on a daily average basis, driven by both the increase in demand and the rise in international prices.
Exports of crude petroleum oil, however, continue to fall and ended last month with a drop of US$ 29.98 million. In this case, the drop is due to both the drop in international prices and the volume of demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the manufacturing industry, the biggest drops were recorded in oil platforms (-US$ 71.27 million by the daily average), petroleum fuel oils (-US$ 11.54 million) and tobacco (-US$ 8.62 million).
In addition to the crisis in Argentina, the main destination for Brazilian industrial sales, the fictitious export of an oil platform that occurred in September last year, which was not repeated this year, impacted the result. In this type of operation, classified as within international trade rules, an oil company registers a platform with a subsidiary abroad, without the equipment leaving the country.
Annual target
After the trade balance ended 2019 at US$ 48.035 billion, the second highest positive result in history, the market estimates lower trade volume in 2020, due to the new coronavirus pandemic. However, the decline in imports at a faster pace than exports increased balance projections.
According to the Focus bulletin, a weekly survey of financial institutions released by the Central Bank, market analysts predict a surplus of US$ 55.15 billion for this year. The Ministry of Economy updated the positive balance estimate to US$ 55 billion, with a slight drop in relation to the estimate of US$ 55.4 billion released in July.
Source: DATA
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