On July 16, the Secretariat of Foreign Trade released the first edition of the Quarterly Bulletin of the Brazilian Trade Balance, contextualizing the panorama of world trade, demonstrating the dynamics of Brazilian foreign trade and presenting estimates for the results of the Trade Balance in 2021.
The bulletin states that in relation to international commodity prices, there has been a steady growth since April 2020, showing that there was an increase of 8.0% in May compared to the previous month. The high demand for commodities has been supported by the rapid recovery of the global economy and, specifically, by the strong growth trend of the Chinese economy.
Brazilian foreign trade in goods, with a current record of US$ 235 billion, presented a strong performance in the first half of 2021, growing 31.2% compared to the same period last year. Exports also reached a record value of US$ 135.9 billion in the semester.
In the case of exports to the Argentine market, there was a strong increase of 70.3% in the volume shipped, compared to an increase of 8.6% in the prices of goods exported to the country. In relation to China, the country’s main trading partner, the drop in exported volume was mainly due to lower exports in the quantities of soybeans, crude petroleum oils and cellulose in the 2nd quarter 2021/2020 comparison. As for shipments to the European Union, the 47.2% increase in the value exported in the 2nd quarter of 2021 was mainly due to the strong increase of 30.9% in the prices of shipped products. The volume shipped to the European market also registered an increase in the period, of 7.8%. Among the main products that drove this increase in exported value are: iron ore, soy, copper ores, crude petroleum oils, soy bran and coffee.
Therefore, the Quarterly Foreign Trade Bulletin offers qualified information, in addition to a more complete and analytical view of recent movements in Brazilian foreign trade. The publication has, for example, an overview of world trade and economy; an analysis of exported and imported volumes, with totals and details by sectors and commercial partners; in addition to the movements of the terms of trade indicator. At the end, the expectations for the result of the Trade Balance for the year are presented.
