The terms of trade, which measure the relationship between the prices of Argentine exports and imports, worsened 2.9% in the first quarter of 2024 according to a report published by INDEC this Thursday.
The terms of trade, which measure the relationship between the prices of Argentine exports and imports, worsened 2.9% in the first quarter of 2024 according to a report published by INDEC this Thursday, compared to the same period in 2023.
Although both export and import prices fell, the former did so at a greater rate (-8.1% vs -5.4%).
Despite this loss of competitiveness of local products, between January and March of this year a trade surplus of USD 4,253 million was recorded.when in the same period last year a deficit of US$1,290 million had been verified.
This happened mainly because imports collapsed by 24% annually (- USD 4,172 million), mainly due to a contraction of almost 20% in quantities. The most significant declines occurred in Intermediate Goods (-1.4 billion) and energy (-1.2 billion). Only external purchases of vehicles increased.
At the product level, the imports that fell the most were fuels (mainly diesel, fuel oil and gasoline), cell phone parts and steel products (mostly due to the decline in steel tubes for gas pipelines after the completion of the first stage of the NK gas pipeline).
Likewise, exports grew 9% (+US$1,423 million), mainly driven by the increase in Primary Products (+US$1.1 billion). On the contrary, manufacturing of industrial origin showed a drop of almost 9%.
The improvement was mostly explained by the growth in sales of cereals and oilseeds (mainly wheat), oil and lithium. At the other extreme, those that fell the most were silver, gas and automobiles.
Brazil remains firm as the main trading partner, followed by China and the United States. Among sales, increases in transactions with Brazil, Chile and Southeast Asian countries, mainly Vietnam, stood out. Likewise, on the purchasing side, there were significant falls in operations with the three main partners.
Source: Ambito
