Brazil's trade surplus hits record

Brazil’s trade surplus reached US$98.8bn last year, far exceeding the previous record of US$61.5bn set in 2022.

Exports and imports also registered new records of US$340bn and US$241bn, according to the development, industry, trade and services ministry.

"The trade surplus will remain quite robust this year, with the prices of the main commodities exported by Brazil likely to stay at high levels. However, we may not have a record this year because imports, mainly machinery and equipment, may increase and which have been very low in recent years," Welber Barral, founding partner of BMJ Consultores Associados and former foreign trade secretary, told BNamericas.

According to Barral, the government is expected to focus on regional trade and the potential Mercosur-EU deal this year. The Mercosur bloc is formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration is promoting regional economic integration and ramped up infrastructure financing to improve logistics in the region.

In December, development bank BNDES and regional lenders announced an agreement to mobilize financing of up to US$10bn for infrastructure and sustainable development.

In addition, the government seeks to boost exports to Asia, Europe and the US. In 2023, exports to China, the country's main trading partner, totaled US$100bn, the highest level on record for Brazilian exports to a single country.

"The Brazilian government is working to further promote trade with multiple countries and for 2024 we are expecting exports to reach a record, reaching the US$348bn mark," vice president and development, industry, commerce and services minister Geraldo Alckmin told reporters Friday.

The government projects a trade surplus of US$94bn this year and imports of US$254bn.

Alckmin, meanwhile, announced that the US has removed a tariff on Brazilian steel pipes.

"Since 1992, an anti-dumping duty imposed by the US on Brazilian steel pipes implied a 103.5% increase in the prices of these products. Now the US removed this anti-dumping measure and this will greatly improve our steel pipe exports to the US," he said.

The main export destinations in 2023 were China with US$106bn, the EU with US$46.3bn, the US with US$36.8bn and Argentina with US$16.7bn.

The main exports were soybeans (US$53.2bn), oil derivatives (US$42bn), iron ore (US$30bn) and sugar (US$15bn), Alckmin said.