Brazil’s October Trade Balance is Worst in 16 Years

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – The trade balance in Brazil registered its worst result for the month of October in sixteen years, according the MDIC (Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade), with imports surpassing exports by US$1.17 billion. According to the MDIC, in October, Brazil exported US$18.3 billion, reduction of 19.7 percent in comparison to October of 2013.

Monthly imports totaled US$19.5 billion, down by 15.4 percent from the same month last year. For the first ten months of the year, Brazil’s trade balance is also in negative territory.

For the year, until October, Brazilian exports totaled US$191.97 billion, down by 3.7 percent in comparison to October of 2013, while imports totaled US$193.84 billion, down also by 3.7 percent from the same month last year.

MDIC’s Foreign Trade Secretary, Daniel Godinho, however, said that the government’s forecast for a surplus for 2014 is maintained. “The month of December traditionally registers a surplus,” he said in a press conference on Monday.

According to Godinho the government expects an improvement in exports of petroleum, iron ore and meats, which should impact in the total result at the end of the year. Brazil’s Central Bank, therefore, forecasts a surplus in the country’s trade balance of US$3 billion, with exports of US$240 billion and imports of US$237 billion.

The financial market on the other hand sees a surplus of US$2 billion in Brazil’s trade balance for 2014, according to a survey conducted by the Central Bank with more than one hundred financial institutions last week. According to the Ministry the main destinations for Brazilian exports for the first ten months of 2014 were China (US$36.7 billion), the U.S. (US$22.4 billion), and Argentina (US$12.2 billion). Brazil’s largest imports totals came from China (US$31.5 billion), the U.S. (US$29.8 billion), and Germany (US$11.9 billion).