Lthe trade balance with Brazil The trade deficit for Argentina was US$34 million, marking five consecutive months of positive figures. This figure is relevant given that the relationship with the main Mercosur partner has always been a deficit for the country.
Furthermore, it occurred in a framework of devaluation of the real which amounts to almost 17% in the year and appreciation of the Argentine peso. This reversal has two specific points: fewer soybean purchases, given that last year, in the face of the drought, the cereal was purchased to keep the processing plants running, and energy.
The positive series is as follows: US$111 million in March, US$116 million in April, US$23 million in May, and US$49 million in June. In the first seven months of 2024, a positive balance of US$141 million has been accumulated, a positive reversal of US$4.261 billion compared to the accumulated deficit of US$4.120 billion in the same period of 2023, according to the consultancy ABECEB.
Why the fifth trade surplus with Brazil was achieved
“40% of this decline was explained by a decrease in soybean imports (US$1.689 billion), and another 6% was due to a decrease in electricity purchases (US$264 million),” the report said.
This slight surplus occurs in a context of relative improvement in bilateral trade flow: After the sum of imports and exports totaled US$1,969 million in June, falling 31.6% annually, it recovered ground reaching US$2,368 million and marking a drop of only 9.5% year-on-year (compared to US$2,617 million in July 2023), its best performance in ten months (tied with a drop of 9.5% in April 2024).
The work noted that the Imports from Brazil reached US$1.167 billion in July and showed a 27.8% annual drop, an improvement compared to the -50.8% annual drop observed in June or the -42.7% in May.
Meanwhile, the Argentine exports to Brazil showed a more encouraging performance in July, totaling US$1.201 billion and growing by 20.0% compared to the same month a year ago. This implies an acceleration compared to the 8.8% annual increase in June, and marks its second best figure of the year (after the 36.7% in April) and its best figure since March 2023In the year to date, foreign sales have shown an annual increase of 5.0%.
Source: Ambito
