Brazil's trade surplus rose to USD 6.06 billion in April 2019 from a downwardly revised USD 5.92 billion in the corresponding month of the previous year but missing market expectations of a USD 6.70 billion surplus.
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It is the second largest trade surplus ever recorded for an April month and the biggest monthly surplus so far this year, as imports fell faster than exports.
Imports declined 1.2 percent from a year ago to USD 13.63 billion in April 2019, mainly dragged down by lower purchases of intermediate goods (-0.2 percent); consumption goods (-6.6 percent) and capital goods (-10 percent).
In contrast, imports of fuels and lubricants surged 10 percent.
Among major trading partners, imports shrank from the EU (-18.5 percent), Argentina (-6.7 percent), while they increased from China (10.7 percent), the US (3.1 percent) and ASEAN countries (8 percent).
Exports dropped 0.1 percent to USD 19.69 billion in April 2019. Still, overseas sales rose for primary goods (2.1 percent), mostly crude oil (43.5 percent); chicken meat (36.1 percent); beef (48.1 percent); coffee beans (11.6 percent); cotton (145.2 percent) and pork (51.4 percent). Conversely, they declined for soybeans (-12.6 percent); iron ore (-27.5 percent) and soybean meal (-13.4 percent).
Meantime, exports went up for manufactured products (0.8 percent), with higher sales of aircraft (1.7 percent); fuels (46.5 percent) and machinery & equipment for agricultural use (208.3 percent) being partly offset by declines in those of passenger vehicles (-26.4 percent); engines (-9 percent) and auto parts (-20.5 percent).
Shipments of semi-manufactured products grew 7.1 percent, on higher shipments of cellulose (25.2 percent) and raw sugar (25.8 percent).
Among major trading partners, exports fell to the EU (-2.9 percent) and Argentina (-45.9 percent), but rose to China (3.4 percent), the US (22.9 percent) and ASEAN countries (41 percent).
Considering the first four months of 2019, the trade surplus narrowed to USD 16.58 billion from USD 18.17 billion in the same period of 2018. ■
Predominant upper-level ridging stretching from the Southwest to the southern High Plains will allow for another day of record-breaking heat across parts of Nevada and Arizona today.