Pork and poultry on the rise

Exports averaged USD 768.7 mill. a day in the month, up from USD 757.8 mill. a year ago. The Ministry said basic/semi-finished goods went up, with foreign sales of finished goods going down.

Basic goods exports rose 2.5% year-on-year in April to USD 7.739 billion. Products whose sales increased the most include maize, up 81.4% to USD 58 million; soybeans, up 39.4% to USD 3.5 bill.; pork, up 16.9% to USD 100 mill.; and poultry, up 10.5% to USD 533 mill.

Semi-finished goods exports equaled USD 1.837 billion in April, up 6.9% from April 2015. Finished goods exports shrank 1.3% to USD 5.433 bill.

Year-on-year in April, sales increased to Oceania, Africa, Asia and the Middle East and dropped to Central America and the Caribbean, the United States, the Mercosur and the European Union. Exports to the Middle East grew 0.5%, driven by poultry and beef, soybean, sugar, soya bran, cast iron pipes, chassis and engines, and pumps and compressors. Exports to Africa gained 0.7% on the back of sugar, beef, vehicles and materials sales.

Conversely, imports averaged USD 525.7 mill. a day, down from USD 733.3 mill. in April of last year. Imports declined for fuels and lubricants, capital goods, consumer goods and intermediate goods. Markets-wise, imports fell 40.1% from Asia, 36.4% from Africa, 26.1% from Central America/Caribbean, 24.8% from the United States and Oceania, 21.9% from the European Union and 15.9% from the Mercosur. The Middle East was the only region whose exports to Brazil increased, by 3.7%, driven by natural gas, aviation kerosene, urea, fertilizers, acyclic alcohols, and raw lead.

Year-to-date through April, exports from Brazil equaled USD 55.948 bill., averaging USD 690.7 mill. per day. The daily average is down 3.4% from a year ago. From January through April, imports amounted to USD 42.699 bill., averaging USD 527.1 mill. per day, down 32.2%. A USD 13.249 bill. trade surplus was registered through April, as against a USD 5.059 bill. deficit in the year-ago period.