Brazil achieves a record commercial surplus of around $12 billion.

Exports totaled $23.500 billion in February 2024, a 16.3% increase compared to the same month in 2023.

Gabriel Micillo•Friday, March 8, 2024•2 min read

Shipments to China surged by almost 50%, while exports to Argentina plummeted.

Brazil’s trade balance registered a record surplus in the first two months of the year, thanks to a strong increase in exports to Asia, according to a report released this Wednesday by the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (Secex) of the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade, and Services of Brazil.

According to Secex, in the first two months of the year, there was a surplus of $11.940 billion compared to the same period in 2023, the highest for the period in the entire historical series.

USD/BRL

So far, the highest recorded figure for the period had been a positive balance of $6.720 billion in 2016.

Exports in the first two months saw an increase of 17.4 percent, reaching $50.510 billion in the same comparison base, while total imports amounted to $38.560 billion, a 1 percent increase.

According to the report, exports to China stood out, increasing by 46.6% in the first two months compared to the same period in 2023, totaling $14.930 billion.

Exports to the European Union fell by 6.2% in the comparison period, totaling $6.100 billion, while exports to the United States grew by 19.4% in the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2023, reaching $6.120 billion.

Regarding Argentina, Brazil’s main partner in the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), Brazilian exports suffered a sharp decline of 28% in the same comparison base, totaling $1.710 billion.

In contrast, imports from Argentina experienced a 14-point decrease in the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2023, totaling $1.510 billion.

Secex’s report detailed that in February, Brazil’s trade surplus was $5.450 billion, a 111.8% increase compared to February of the previous year, and also the highest surplus for the month in the historical series.

Exports totaled $23.500 billion in February 2024, a 16.3% increase compared to the same month in 2023, while imports reached $18.090 billion, a 2.4% increase in the same comparison base.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR See More

Gabriel Micillo

Gabriel is a certified public accountant graduated from UNNE (National University of the Northeast, Argentina) and a software developer, currently pursuing a Master's degree in Finance and Economics. With nearly 8 years of experience working for accounting firms and brokerage firms. Concurrently, he has produced economic and financial reports on the current state of regional economies for the clients of the establishments where he has worked. Additionally, he assisted colleagues like Ignacio Teson in the drafting and editing of articles on similar topics in English language.