The trade balance – difference between exports and imports – recorded the second best surplus for November, reports Agência Brasil. According to the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services (MDIC), the country exported US $ 4.062 billion which was imported last month. The balance was only lower than that of November 2016, when the surplus had reached US $ 4.8 billion.
Exports totaled US $ 20.922 billion last month, up 25.4% from November last year by the daily average criterion. Imports totaled US $ 16.860 billion, an increase of 28.3% in the same comparison, also by the daily average.
From January to November, the balance of the trade balance totaled US $ 51.698 billion, down 16.6% over the same period last year. Despite the decline, this is the second best balance since the beginning of the historical series in 1989, second only to that of last year, when exports had surpassed imports by US $ 61.992 billion.
In the first half of 2018, exports totaled US $ 220.002 billion, an increase of 9.4% compared to the period from January to November 2017. Imports reached US $ 168,304 billion, up 21.3%. The growth of imports at a faster rate than that of imports led to a decline in the balance of trade this year. According to the MDIC, foreign purchases rose because of the recovery of the economy.
From January to November, exports increased by 5.5% in price and 3.5% in volume. According to the Secretary of Foreign Trade of MDIC, Abengo Neto, the main highlights of the year were soybeans, earthmoving machines and equipment and manufactured iron and steel. Despite the imposition of quotas by the United States in the middle of the year, the increase of quotations guaranteed the record in sales of the product.
Imports rose 5.7% in price and 15% in volume. The secretary, however, reported that part of this increase is due to the new Repetro, a special regime for importing equipment for the oil and gas sector. Because of the new regime, which entered into force this year, the country is gradually importing oil platforms that were registered abroad, which impacts the balance of trade balance.
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.