Brazil saw a $690 million trade surplus in the fourth week of September, with exports grossing $3.71 billion and imports amounting to $3.02 billion.
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This is according to the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services. Exports shrank in the fourth week from the other three weeks of this month. Year-to-date in September, foreign sales exceeded those of the comparable period in 2015.
In the fourth week of September, exports averaged $741.9 million per business day, down 7.5% from the first three weeks. Imports averaged $604 million per day, up 2.9% from the year-ago period.
Through the fourth week of September, exports averaged $783.1 million a day, up 1.8%. Semi-finished goods exports were up, while basic and finished goods declined.
Semi-finished goods exports averaged $131.8 million a day, up 21.6% from September 2015, due to stronger sales of raw sugar, semi-finished gold, timber, butter, fat, cocoa oil and soy oil.
Basic goods exports fell 2.2% to $333.4 million, with sales going down for soybeans, tobacco leaves, soy bran, beef and maize. Finished goods exports slipped 0.5% to $299.9 million a day, driven by aluminum oxide and hydroxide, plastic polymers, auto parts, vehicle engines and flat-rolled iron and steel.
Through the fourth week of September, imports stood at $592.2 million a day, down 5.8% from a year ago, with slower purchases of steel and iron products, mechanical equipment, fertilizer, fuels, and lubricants. So far in September, Brazil is running a $3.055 billion trade surplus.
Year-to-date, exports reached $136.1 billion, with imports at $100.6 billion and a $35.4 billion surplus. The comparable period of 2015 had seen a $9.9 billion surplus.
The inflation forecast for 2016, gauged under the Extended National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), has eased from 7.34% to 7.25% as per a poll of financial institutions conducted by the Brazilian Central Bank.
This is the second back-to-back drop in the weekly poll. The 2017 forecast also fell, from 5.12% to 5%. The numbers are released in the Focus Bulletin made public every Monday.
The benchmark interest rate (Selic) is seen at 13.75%, at the end of this year, and 11% in the end of 2017. ■