For the First Time in 2007 Brazil Exports Outperform Imports

Brazilian exports last week totaled US$ 3.038 billion, a 4% increase compared with sales during the previous week. In the same period, from April 16th to 20th, imports reached US$ 1.8 billion, a 10.76% decrease over purchases from April 9th to 13th, as shown by the bulletin of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.

This was the first time this year that exports performed better than imports, enabling a trade balance of US$ 1.238 billion for the week, an increase of 36.95% over the balance for the previous week, and a record high average of US$ 247.6 million per day.

Consequently, the surplus for the month stands at US$ 3.001 billion, and since there are still five business days left before the end of April, the trade balance for the month should easily surpass the US$ 3.071 billion recorded during the same month last year.

The accumulated surplus for the year rose to US$ 11.699 billion, a 1.20% increase over the surplus for last year. This is the first time that this happened in 2007, because until now comparisons have always shown stronger figures in 2006.

The surplus for the year is the result of total exports of US$ 42.406 billion (+ 16,29%), against imports of US$ 30.707 billion (+ 23,30%) compared with the same period in 2006.

ABr