April 6, 2007

 

Brazil's March agricultural export value rises 12.8 percent to US$4.5 billion

 

 

Dollars from Brazil's agricultural exports continue to pour into the country, rising 12.8 percent on the year in March to US$4.5 billion, the Agriculture Ministry said Thursday (Apr 5).

 

Brazil's farm trade surplus for the month was US$3.71 billion. Most of the month's revenue came from beef, chicken, coffee, and forest goods, the Ministry said. Russia increased its Brazilian chicken imports enough to raise meat export revenues by more than 50 percent to US$364 million compared to last year's figures.

 

The EU remains Brazil's top commercial bloc for agriculture exports, valued at US$1.6 billion in March compared with US$1.3 billion in March 2006. The EU accounted for 35.1 percent of Brazil's agriculture exports in March, based on value.

 

Asia was second at US$840.7 million, down from US$862.3 million in March 2006.

 

The US remains Brazil's top single nation market for farm goods, importing US$525.5 million worth of goods in March, down 7.5 percent on the year.

 

China is no. 2, with Brazil exports valued at US$377.9 million, down 3.5 percent compared with March 2006.

 

Over the last three months, Brazilian agriculture commodity exports valued US$11.8 billion, up 20 percent from the same three month period in 2006. Brazil's farm trade surplus over the three month period is US$9.8 billion, the largest farm trade surplus in the world.

 

The US as an individual nation is Brazil's main market again this year, with Brazil shipping US$1.5 billion worth of farm goods to the US from January to March, up 2 percent on the year.

 

The Netherlands is no. 2, followed by Russia, Italy and China.

 

From April 2006 to March 2007, Brazil exported US$51.4 billion worth of farm commodities to world markets, up 15.3 percent over the same period last year, when export values were US$44.6 billion.

 

Brazil has a US$44.2 billion farm trade surplus over the April to March 2007 period, adding to the growing dollar influx into the country that has caused the Brazilian real to strengthen to levels not seen in six years.