Argentina records a trade surplus of US$400 million in March – Indec

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina recorded last March a trade surplus of US$400 million, which represented a year-on-year contraction of 65%, official sources informed this Thursday.

According to Argentina’s National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec), the volume of trade exchange (exports plus imports) increased by 46.5 % year-on-year and reached 11.04 billion dollars.

According to official data, in March, Argentina exported US$5.72 billion, 30.5% more than in the same month of 2020, due to a 14.6% increase in quantities and a 13.9% increase in prices.

Meanwhile, imports in the third month of the year totaled US$5.35 billion, which represented an inter-annual increase of 68.4%.

According to Indec, import prices rose in March by 2.8% year-on-year, and quantities increased by 64.2%.

In March, Argentina’s main trading partners (taking into account the sum of exports and imports) were Brazil, China, and the United States, in that order.

The products that Argentina exported the most in the third month of the year belonged to manufactures of agricultural origin (US$2.44 billion), primary products (US$1.53 billion), and manufacturers of industrial origin (US$1.45 billion).

Meanwhile, intermediate goods (US$ 2.25 billion), parts and accessories for capital goods (US$1.05 billion), and capital goods (US$ 854 million) were the most imported.

Argentina recorded a trade surplus of US$12.528 billion in 2020, which was a contraction of 21.6% compared to the positive balance achieved in 2019, in a context of falling exports as well as imports, in a global scenario strongly impacted by the covid-19 pandemic.

The South American country experienced 2020, its third year in recession, and faces a strong deficit in its public accounts, so it needs, among other factors, to increase foreign currency income through higher exports.

Alberto Fernández’s government estimates that this year Argentina will achieve a positive balance of trade balance of US$15.08 billion, with exports of US$74.43 billion and imports of US$59.34 billion.