During the second week of January, the Brazilian trade balance recorded a US$ 360 million surplus (exports minus imports), according to a release published yesterday, January 15, by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. The accumulated surplus for the month amounted to US$ 977 million.
The surplus achieved last week was the result of US$ 2.529 in exports, compared with US$ 2.023 billion for the week before, whereas imports increased much more: US$ 2.169 billion last week, compared with US$ 1.406 billion for the previous week.
Up until last Saturday, January 13, the daily export average for January was US$ 505.8 million, or 20% more than recorded in January 2006, whereas the import average rose to US$ 397.2 million, a 35.5% increase. Compared with December, exports saw a 17.3% decrease, while imports remained at the same rate.
The Ministry of Development estimates a 10% increase in foreign sales this year compared with last year, which amounts to a set goal of US$ 152 billion.
But imports have been increasing at a higher rate, justifying a trade surplus projection of approximately US$ 39 billion for this year, according to the Focus economic bulletin, published by the Brazilian Central Bank. That figure is below the US$ 46.077 billion trade surplus recorded in 2006.