By the second week of August, Brazil’s trade surplus for 2023 had totaled $41.856 billion. Compared to the same period from January to August 2021, there was a 13.3% drop in the daily average. However, the trade flow increased by 23.8%, reaching $374.284 billion, with exports rising by 18.7% to $208.070 billion and imports growing by 30.8% to $166.214 billion. These figures were released this Monday by the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (Secex) of the Ministry of Economy.

August Trade Surplus

In the second week of August, the trade surplus was $1.966 billion, a daily average drop of 43.5% compared to August of the previous year. The trade volume increased by 20.8%, reaching $25.672 billion. Exports totaled $13.819 billion, an 11.7% increase, while imports reached $11.852 billion, a 33.3% increase.

During the second week of the month, the trade surplus was $793 million, with a trade volume of $12.484 billion, including $6.638 billion in exports and $5.845 billion in imports.

Key Export Figures

By sector, agricultural sales rose by 47.9% in the month compared to the same period in 2021, totaling $3.166 billion. This growth was driven by higher shipments of non-milled corn, excluding sweet corn (131.7%), roasted coffee (18.3%), and soybeans (34.0%). On the other hand, sales of fresh or refrigerated vegetables (-29.5%), non-oily fresh or dried fruits and nuts (-19.5%), and raw cotton (-11.7%) decreased.

Industrial production saw a 27.7% increase in the month, reaching $7.583 billion by the second week. Significant growth was recorded in poultry meat and edible offal, fresh, chilled, or frozen (45.6%), sugar and molasses (53.6%), and soybean meal and other animal feeds (47.0%). Conversely, there were declines in primary form ethylene polymers (-48.8%), semi-finished steel products (-38.4%), and metal containers for storage (-80.9%).

Key Import Figures

On the import side, Secex reported a 31.5% increase in agricultural purchases, reaching $251.77 million in the second week of August compared to the same period in 2021. The inputs that grew the most were wheat and rye, unground (44.0%), non-ground corn, excluding sweet corn (82.0%), and non-oily fresh or dried fruits and nuts (50.5%).

For the extractive industries, imports increased by 2.1% in August, totaling $518.6 million by the second week. The largest increases were in purchases of crude fertilizers (94.2%), non-agglomerated coal (90.9%), and crude petroleum or bituminous mineral oils (91.5%).

In manufacturing industries, monthly imports rose by 36.3%, reaching $11.029 billion in the second week of August. The largest increases were in fuel oil or bituminous minerals (97.9%), fertilizers (58.2%), and pesticides, rodenticides, fungicides, herbicides, plant growth regulators, disinfectants, etc. (94.9%).