Exports to Brazil doubled in the last 12 months and reached a record in 8 years

In this way, Argentina increased its participation in total imports from Brazil, going from an average 5.2% in the last 12 months to representing 6.9% in the last month, according to a report by the consulting firm bbeb.

On the side of Argentine imports (that is, exports from Brazil), there was a significant slowdown compared to previous months. The year-on-year increase was just 11.5% to total about US $ 1,047 million. In particular, a drop of 42.7% in purchases of passenger vehicles stood out.

Abeceb said that this responded, in large part, to the problems that the Brazilian automotive sector is having to produce due to the global shortage of chips, to which were added restrictions on imports in Argentina.

From these numbers, the bilateral trade surplus amounted to $ 307 million. Likewise, trade between the two countries grew for the eleventh consecutive month and returned to 2018 levels.

However, in the accumulated of 2021, when there is only one month left to finish the year, the balance continues to be favorable for Brazil in about US $ 203 million since exports reached US $ 10,714 million (+ 50% annually ) and imports totaled about US $ 10,917 million (+ 42%).

Looking to the future, From Abeceb they project that commercial exchange will continue at high levels in December but warn of potential problems for 2022.

These are linked to:

1. A possible rate hike by the Fed, which would hit the price of commodities and limit the inflow of foreign currency for both Brazil and Argentina.
2. The risk of new sanitary restrictions due to new variants of Covid-19, which could again distort trade flows.
3. The chip shortage crisis, which does not seem to have a solution in the short term.
4. Slowdown in economic activity in both countries, with stagnation already observed in Brazil
5. Political uncertainty in Brazil over the elections