RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With the continuous drop in imports due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Brazilian trade balance recorded another surplus in October. Exports exceeded imports by US$5.473 billion, the highest result for the month since 2018.
In the year-to-date through October, the cumulative surplus amounts to US 47.662 billion, compared to US$38.524 billion in the same period in 2019.
At the start of last month, the Foreign Trade Secretariat (SECEX) of the Ministry of Economy updated its projection for this year’s positive trade balance to US$55 billion.
The data for October fell within the range of projections of analysts consulted by Broadcast Projections, which expected a positive balance of between US$2.80 billion and US$6.60 billion. However, the performance fell below the median, which pointed to a US$6.061 billion surplus last month.
In October 2019, the surplus balance had stood at US$2.549 billion
The surplus in October 2020 was caused by stable exports, while imports again recorded a sharp drop in the daily average compared to October 2019.
In absolute values, exports totaled US$17.855 billion in October, while imports stood at US$12.383 billion.
The daily import average dropped by 20.0 percent compared to October last year, with a 44.6 percent drop in the extractive industry and a 19.5 percent drop in the manufacturing industry. The daily average of agricultural imports grew by 3.0 percent, against October 2019.
In the case of exports, there was a slight growth of 0.3 percent, driven by the extractive industry, which had an increase of 7.2 percent, while processing industry sales increased by 4.7 percent. On the other hand, farming and cattle raising had a 20.6 percent drop in the daily average.
The Ministry of Economy also announced a US$802 million surplus in the fifth week of October (26th to 31st), with US$3.662 billion in exports and US$2.860 billion in imports.
Source: Estadão Conteúdo
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