Brazilian sales up 12% in value and 23.5% in volume, says Amcham
07/16/2024
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Abrão Neto — Foto: Rogerio Vieira/Valor
Brazilian exports to the United States reached a record $19.2 billion in the first half of this year. The trade between the countries grew 12% in value (or $2.1 billion) and 23.5% in volume (4 million tonnes), compared to the same period in 2023, according to the Brazil-US Trade Monitor of the American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil (Amcham Brazil).
On the other hand, Brazilian imports from the United States amounted to $19.4 billion, a slight drop compared to the same period last year.
Even with slightly lower imports, there was an increase in eight of the ten products most imported by Brazil from the United States.
The highlights of the period were aircraft (62.4%), ethylene polymers (50.8%), crude oil (48.9%), medicines (32.9%), natural gas (545.9%) and non-electric motors and machinery (20.2%).
The trade between the countries has been performing well, with a 5.1% increase in bilateral trade compared to the same period last year, reaching $38.7 billion in transactions. This growth is more than double the increase in Brazil’s trade with the world in the period (2.5%).
Trade between Brazil and the United States is expected to be more balanced in the yearly results. According to Abrão Neto, CEO of Amcham Brazil, the bilateral trade deficit is expected to be close to zero, unlike that recorded in the last decade. “Trade growth will be driven by Brazilian exports, which will be an important result for the Brazilian economy,” he says.
The American market was the fastest-growing destination for Brazilian exports in terms of value during the year. Nominal growth was $2.1 billion. The increase is 12% compared to the same period last year, and is more than eight times higher than Brazilian sales to other long-standing trading partners such as China (3.9%), the European Union (2.1%) and South America (-24.3%). In total global exports ($7.1 billion), the United States accounted for almost 30% of the total increase recorded in the period.
According to the Trade Monitor, growth can be seen in all sectors, led by the extractive industry (89.2%), followed by agriculture (19.4%) and the manufacturing industry (2.3%).
Of the ten main products exported to the US, eight showed increases, especially crude oil (108.3%), which rose to first place in the export ranking; aircraft (11.9%); and petroleum fuels (202.1%), which rose from 11th to 4th place.
This strong sale of crude oil to the US contributed to a greater share of the extractive industry in total exports, 17.7%, compared to the 10.5% share in the same period of 2023. The agricultural sector rose to 5.3% from 5.0%, driven by the increase in Brazilian sales of unroasted coffee (44.6%).
In the manufacturing sector, Amcham saw a drop of 8 percentage points, from 83.8% to 76.6%. Despite this, the sector is the best performer among the most exported items, accounting for eight of the top ten products.
Ms. Abrão Neto said that the diversity of the US market compared to Brazil’s other trading partners has had an impact on the increase recorded in the period and is reflected in other areas of the country. “This growth has a very positive impact on job creation and revenue generation within the Brazilian market,” he said.
The main points of departure for exports are concentrated in the South and Southeast of the country, with São Paulo accounting for 31.9% of the total, followed by Rio de Janeiro (17.7%), Minas Gerais (10.1%), Espírito Santo (8.1%) and Rio Grande do Sul (4.6%). At the same time, the imports also have São Paulo as the main point of entry, with 31.8% of total imports, followed by Rio de Janeiro (21.8%), Bahia (7.7%), Santa Catarina (5.9%) and Minas Gerais (5.0%).
The most common means of transporting this production is by sea, according to the survey. In the first half of 2024, the sea accounted for 87.7% of export transportation, followed by air, with 11.5%. As for imports, the maritime transport is also the main mode of transportation, with 62.5%, while 36.8% was done by air.
According to Amcham, Brazil is expected to show progress in 2024 compared to last year, especially in exports. “We expect the trade flow to grow in relation to last year, reaching the second-highest trade flow since records began, probably second only to 2022,” said Mr. Abrão Neto.
Por Ívina Garcia — São Paulo
Source: Valor International