The Brazilian trade balance registered a surplus of US $ 6.061 billion in April, according to the Ministry of Economy. The value is 2.3% higher than in the same period last year, by the daily average. The surplus is given when the exports present a larger number than the imports. When the opposite occurs, there is a deficit.
Both exports and imports declined in the month and in the four-month period. In the period from January to April, exports fell by 2.7% compared to the same period in 2018. Imports also fell by 0.8% compared to last year.
Professor Alcides Vaz of the Institute of International Relations at the University of Brasília explains that these results – although they seem positive – are not so positive: “This result is apparently positive, but the balance is due to the difference between export and import . The surplus recorded is due to a decrease in imports (which show a slowdown in the domestic economy) and exports (due to the slowdown in the global economy), so it is not really as positive as it looks. “
Soybeans had a drop of 7.9% in the price in the four-month period, which weighs heavily on the trade balance because it is one of the main Brazilian export products. Iron ore increased by 2.7% in price, but fell by 6.8% in production volume. The price of crude oil also decreased by 6.6%. Coffee beans dropped by 17.4%, raw sugar also fell by 17% and the load vehicles group dropped by 14.8% in exports.
Herlon Brandão, undersecretary of Intelligence and Foreign Trade Statistics of the Ministry of Economy recalled that the crisis in Argentina affected the Brazilian trade balance, especially in automobiles. As a result, there was a reduction of 46.5% in total exports to the country and 37.9% in Mercosur. “It is important to note that the Argentine crisis began to worsen from April so comparing January-April of that year with January-April last year is a pre-crisis scenario, which means that in the coming months we will probably have lower rates of fall. “
“Argentina is one of the main trading partners and a crisis in Argentina directly affects our commercial performance, mainly in capital goods and manufactured goods. There is a consolidation of a trend already observed, which is the deterioration of the Argentine economy. And when the Argentine economy is doing well, our foreign trade is going well. When it goes wrong, it reflects on our scales, “he explained.
As a positive highlight in April, meat exports to China increased significantly, due to health problems that influenced Asian production and increased demand for Brazilian meat. The export of beef increased by 48% in April, chicken had positive variation of 36% and pork 51%.
China, Hong Kong and Macao (US $ 20.1 billion), followed by the United States (US $ 9.5 billion), Argentina (US $ 3.2 billion) billion), the Netherlands (US $ 2.8 billion) and Germany (US $ 1.8 billion).
The Ministry of Economy’s expectation for the trade balance of 2019 is US $ 50.1 billion – lower than last year, which stood at US $ 58.3 billion.
Source: Correio Braziliense
