Agribusiness closes out September with $6.8 bn surplus
Agribusiness performance resulted from exports of $8.3 billion and $1.42 billion in imports. .
Agribusiness closed out September with a trade surplus (imports greater than exports) of $6.88 billion, the Ministry of Agriculture reports. The performance resulted from exports of $8.3 billion and $1.42 billion in imports. While exports in September dropped 7.4% compared to $8.96 billion a year ago, imports were up 3.6% from $1.38 billion in September last year.
The chief driver of the decline in exports was soy products (beans, meal, and oil), with lower shipped volumes and prices. In September 2013, the commodity sold $2.74 billion, going down 27.4% to $1.99 billion this year. Total shipments decreased from 5 million tons in September 2013 to 3.97 million tons in September 2014. Moreover, its average export price is reported to have dropped 7.4%.
Conversely, meat – Brazil's second best-selling agricultural export in September – saw improvements, with sales going up 9% from $1.38 billion to $1.5 billion. The increase was driven by pork and chicken, whereas beef had 9.3% lower earnings – $562 million compared to $619 million in September last year. The 8% average export beef price fell too short of counterbalancing a 16.1% shrink in shipped volumes to avoid lower financial inflows.
The third most significant exporting sector, sugar and alcohol, also made significantly lower revenues abroad (21.3%), going from $1.24 billion in September 2013 to $972 million in September this year.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Agribusiness closes out September with $6.8 bn surplus
