February 21, 2013

Revenue of Brazil's meat exports rose 7.7% on-year in January

With record revenues from Brazilian agricultural exports last month, the meat sector was the second leading sector in January, after sugarcane, with revenue of US$1.18 billion, which is 7.7% higher on-year. 

Revenues from exports of chicken meat decreased 5.4% to US$545 million, while the volume of shipments fell 11.6% to 273,000 tonnes. The average export price of chicken increased by 7.1% and stood at US$1,933 per tonne last month.

The volume of beef exports in January grew 35.8% to 117,000 tonnes, while the average price of exports fell 4.8%. Revenue from external sales of beef increased 29.2% to US$515 million. Pork recorded a 7.6% increase in revenue to US$104 million. The volume of shipments of beef rose 5.3% to US$40 million and the average price rose 2.2%.

Corn exports were at a strong pace following last month and reached 3.37 million tonnes, 297.8% higher than in January 2012. Revenue from external sales of corn grew 327.5% and reached US$947 million. The low carryover stocks in the current crop caused shrinkage in the share of soybean trade balance last month. The export volume (651,000 tonnes) was 70% lower than in January 2012 and revenue fell 60.9% to US$373 million. Average prices of commodities of soybean rose 30.2%.

Brazilian agricultural exports reached US$6.58 billion last month, a record for the month of January, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Revenues grew 14.7% compared to January 2012.

Imports last month fell 2.2% to US$1.46 billion. The positive balance of trade grew from US$4.24 billion to US$5.12 billion during the period. For imports, wheat was the highlight, with an increase of 61.2% in revenue from external purchases, which totalled US$194 million. The volume of imports grew 18.9% to 593,000 tonnes, while average price rose 35.6%.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, due to a 14.7% growth in revenue from agricultural exports and a fall of 9.8% in exports of other products, the agriculture's share in total export revenues was 41.2%, compared to 35.5% in January 2012.