Brazil Trade Balance at US$50.995 Billion Surplus in 2020, Below Prior Estimates

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With the coronavirus pandemic affecting imports more than exports, Brazil recorded a positive balance of US$50.995 billion in foreign trade in 2020. This represents an increase of 6.2% over the 2019 trade balance. However, the 2020 result fell below the projected median of US$51.2 billion surplus.

According to data released by the Ministry of Economy’s Foreign Trade Secretariat on Monday, January 4th, the figure was buoyed by US$209.921 billion in exports, which exceeded imports by US$158.926 billion.

Overall, the pandemic led to a 7.7% drop in Brazil’s trade flow with other countries. Imports fell 9.7% in 2020, driven by less domestic demand at a time of economic downturn. There was a 3.9% drop in purchases of agricultural products and 7.7% in processing industry products.

Exports fell by 6.1%, with the drop cushioned by the agricultural sector, which posted a 6.0% increase in sales in 2020. There was a 2.7% drop in sales in the extractive industry and of 11.3% in processing industry products.