The exports, including free zones, totaled 917 million dollars in January and grew 8% year-on-year according to the foreign trade report of Uruguay XXI, ratifying the recovery prospects that have been hinted at since the last quarter of 2023.
The increase is greater and reaches 12% if the free trade zone, at the beginning of 2024 that seeks to leave behind the bad experience of last year’s fall. Part of this increase is explained by the better sales of wheat, beef, malt and meat by-products.
The beef, With a year-on-year increase of 34%, it was the main Uruguayan product exported with sales of 176 million dollars and, although the prices were the same, the volume was greater, something linked to higher sales to United States and Israel.
Meanwhile, the placements of wheat increased by 308% compared to January 2023 and totaled 63 million dollars, with Chile, Madagascar and Bangladesh as main destinations, maintaining a positive horizon for the coming months.
In turn, the malt improved its exports by 73% with sales of 36 million dollars, of which 84% went to Brazil and the remaining 16% to Paraguay. While sales of meat byproducts were for 41 million dollars, which represents a growth of 42%, linked to better sales to United States and Mexico.
They also had a contribution to the growth of the exports the concentrates of drinks and the wood, which registered increases of 19% and 22%, respectively.
Pulp failed to take off, but expectations remain
With respect to cellulose, which is projected to be the main export product for this year, had a slight year-on-year increase of 3% in January, with sales of 174 million dollars.
The report of Uruguay XXI He specified that the volumes sold increased by 58%, but the price registered a drop of close to 40%, resulting in a determining factor to counteract the positive impact of the greater production that the operation of the UPM 2.
The decline in rapeseed will continue throughout the year
Likewise, the rape It was one of the products with the greatest negative impact, with sales of just one million dollars, a significant drop compared to the 61 million sold in the same month of 2023.
According to the survey of Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP), in the last harvest there was a significant drop in the planted area due to the drop in prices of the product, something to which was added the significant losses due to frost in the early stages of the development of the crop.
To this it must be added that they were later replanted with other crops, such as wheat and barley, Therefore, rapeseed sales are expected to maintain a negative streak in the first months of 2024.
Other sectors that had a decrease in sales were dairy, whose sales were 75 million dollars and decreased by 13%; he rice, with placements of 37 million (a drop of 25%); and the plastics, with sales of 26 million and a decrease of 2%.
Source: Ambito
