The exports of goodsincluding free zones, collapsed by 13% last year in comparison with 2022 (record year), with China once again becoming the main trading partner of the Uruguayaccounting for 22% of total placements.
According to the last Annual Foreign Trade Report 2023 prepared by the Competitive Intelligence department of the government agency Uruguay XXIneither the external nor the internal context contributed positively to improving the performance of the national exportswhich were 950 million dollars during the month of December, a negative monthly variation of 6.6% compared to November.
The government agency explains the drop in loans due to the “meager” growth of developed economies, as well as a drop in demand from China and the drop in the price of commodities. At the same time, internally there is added the fierce drought that devastated the countryside, strongly damaging agricultural production.
Pulp exports rose 7%
The cellulose It was one of the outstanding products of the annual balance, since billing showed an increase of 7% due to the greater volumes exported after the start-up of the plant. UPM Paso de los Toros (UPM 2)which made shipments starting in May.
In total, pulp shipments totaled about 2,019 million dollars, about 132 million dollars above what was exported in 2022, where it reached 1,887 million dollars. The European Union (EU) It was the main destination of this product, with a 42% share of the total exported, followed by China at 37%.
Along with live cattle, pulp was the item with the greatest positive impact on the total, but the export declines of beef and soybeans consolidated the general decline.
Beef was once again the star product
The beef It was once again the best-selling product during 2023, however, it presented declines in prices and volumes compared to 2022. With a share of 18% in the total exported after managing to earn foreign currency for 2,081 million dollars, beef suffered a 15% decrease in prices and up to 4% in volumes.
Although the drop in import demand from China also affected beef, the Asian giant persisted as the main destination for the product, with a share of 48%, that is, 998 million dollars.
These two flagship products for the country were followed by dairywith 818 million dollars, the beverage concentrates 739 million dollars (9% increase), and in fifth place the ricewhich after a 23% increase totaled some 616 million dollars.
The five main destinations for Uruguayan shipments were China, with 22%; Brazil, with 19%; The EU; with 16%; USA, with 8%; and the Argentinawith 5%.
Service exports continue to grow
The service exports They represent an increasingly larger proportion within the export basket, totaling 6,074 million dollars from October 2022 to September 2023.
In turn, they were exported non-traditional services for a total of 3,144 million dollars, significantly affecting the total variation in sales of services, which increased by 19%.
For their part, the traditional services experienced a recovery, particularly tourism exportswhich in the moving year reached 2,417 million dollars.
With regards to the imports of goodswhich had increased in 2022, during last year they had a negative interannual variation of 2% (not including data on oil and its derivatives), totaling 10,614 million dollars, where the most important item was the supply of processed industrial products. , with purchases for 2,807 million dollars, followed by vehicles and food and beverages.
Source: Ambito
