Brazil is set to reach a record trade surplus of over US$50 billion with China this year, nearly double that of 2022, according to reports.
New data released by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC) reveals that, as of November, the trade balance totalled more than US$46.8 billion, the largest since 1997 and well beyond last year’s total of US$28.7 billion.
Brazil exported US$91.4 billion in goods to China between January and November, up 14.1 percent to account for 30.7 percent of the total volume of the country’s sales. Imports of Chinese products fell 13.5 percent to US$48.6 billion in the same period, accounting for only 21.9 percent of goods imported by Brazil.
[See more: Brazil’s ambassador to China hails the ‘strong partnership’ between the two nations]
Nearly all of the five top Brazilian trade to China – soya, oil, iron ore, beef and cellulose – saw positive growth in 2023. Soya dominated sales, totalling US$37.2 billion, a 20 percent increase, while oil grew 25.2 percent to US$18.3 billion. Iron ore saw a more modest growth of 1.7 percent to US$17.1 billion, beef fell 30 percent to US$5.2 billion, and cellulose grew 14 percent to US$3.4 billion.
Brazilian top exports remain concentrated in a handful of primary products of low added value, with cellulose as the only manufactured good. Chinese imports to Brazil, conversely, are composed exclusively of industrialised goods across a wide range of sectors and products.
Chinese imports experienced an overall decline of 13.5 percent. The top five imports all dipped accordingly, with thermionic valves and tubes falling 23 percent to US$5 billion and telecommunications equipment dropping 22 percent to US$3 billion. Organo-inorganic compounds (US$2.4 billion) and other processing industry products (US$2.4 billion) took smaller hits, dropping 4.8 percent and 0.9 percent respectively. Fertilisers fell by a third to just US$1.46 billion.
