Brazil’s Trade Balance Surplus Reaches US$ 31 Billion, 11% Lower than in 2006

Exports from Brazil totaled US$ 3.343 billion last week, a performance 21.69% lower than that of foreign sales in the week before last. The data were taken from a bulletin disclosed this Monday, October 8, by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, containing overall balance of trade data for the first week of October.

Whereas exports increased from US$ 4.269 billion, in the last week of September, to US$ 3.343 billion last week, imports have maintained their pace, having recorded a reduction of just 0.62%, and totaling US$ 2.860 billion.

Therefore, the trade surplus (exports minus imports) stood at US$ 483 million, a 65.28% decrease over the previous week.

In the accumulated result for the year, with 193 business days, the trade balance surplus reached US$ 31.430 billion, a decrease of US$ 3.913 billion (11.07%) in comparison with the surplus recorded in the same period of last year.

Foreign sales increased 15.25% this year to stand at US$ 119.942 billion, but imports grew at a stronger pace, of 28,79%, to reach US$ 88.512 billion.

Vehicle Sales

Domestic sales of motor vehicles in Brazil have totaled 1.74 million units from January until September. The result surpasses by 27.4% the result recorded in the same period of last year.

In September, 204,000 units were sold, 28% more than in the same month of 2006, when sales totaled 159,400 units.

In comparison with August of the current year, though, when 235,300 units were sold in the country, sales have decreased by 13.3%. The data were disclosed by the National Association of Vehicle Manufacturers (Anfavea).

In the accumulated result for the year, production has reached 2.18 million units, 10.6% more than recorded during the same period of 2006, when 1.97 million units were produced.

In the month of September, production totaled 252,800 units, 9.4% less than recorded in August (279,000), and 23.9% more than recorded in the same month of last year (204,100).

Between January and September, exports totaled US$ 9.45 billion, a 5% increase over the result accumulated until the ninth month of 2006 (US$ 9 billion).

In September this year, exports totaled US$ 1.13 billion, 2.7% less than in August (US$ 1.16 billion) and 10.1% more than in September 2006 (US$ 1.02 billion).

The number of jobs created by the sector grew by 1.4% in September compared with August, and by 8.9% in comparison with September 2006. As of last month, the sector employed 117.100 people.