Brazilian mineral exports to Mercosur mount

Brazilian iron ore pellet exports to fellow Mercosur nations jumped 66.1% year-on-year to US$105mn in January-April, the country's foreign trade department Secex reported.

Brazil shipped 1.14Mt of iron ore pellets to Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, up from 750,053t in the same period of 2017.

Meanwhile, exports of aluminum tubes to Mercosur nations shot up 171% to US$50mn, according to Secex, with shipments rising to 6,946t from 2,877t in the first four months of 2017.

Unwrought aluminum exports to the three nations were up 19.3% year-on-year to US$57.4mn, despite volumes dipping to 144,435t from 147,250t.

Iron ore exports to the trade bloc increased 90.6% to US$50.4mn, with volumes rising to 1.23Mt from 941,539t.

Brazil's total exports to Mercosur in the period reached US$7.98bn, up 17.1% from the US$6.81bn seen in the same four months of last year.