In November, Brazil’s exports reached a record of US$ 21.8 billion for the month. Imports, at US$ 21.2 billion, were also a record for November, as was bilateral trade, totaling US$ 43 billion. The trade surplus was US$ 583 million in the month, which was 100% up on November 2010’s US$ 291 million.

Brazil’s trade figures were released by the interim Minister for Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC), Alessandro Teixeira, who stressed that the trade surplus for the year (January to November) is US$ 26 billion, which is the highest since 2007’s US$ 36 billion. "I remember that, at the beginning of the year, given the global financial crisis, there were many forecasts of a deficit for 2011 and we are ending the year with an extraordinary result," he said.

The Secretary of Foreign Trade at the MDIC, Tatiana Lacerda Prazeres, reported that Brazil’s exports of basic products (38.7%) and industrialized products (20.2%) recorded higher growth than seen in world trade, at 18%, according to estimates by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "Considering that Brazil’s sales in the year to date have increased by 28%, we can say that Brazil's share of international trade will increase in 2011," she explained.

The main buyers of Brazil’s exports between January and November 2011 were: China (US$ 40.7 billion), the United States (US$ 23.3 billion), Argentina (US $ 20.9 billion), Holland (US $ 12.7 billion) and Japan (US$ 8.6 billion).As for imports, the main markets selling to Brazil were: the United States (US$ 31.4 billion), China (US$ 30.2 billion), Argentina (US $ 15.6 billion), Germany (US$ 14 billion) and South Korea (US$ 9.2 billion).

05 December 2011