Pulp and free trade zone sales tipped the balance in positive territory in a weak semester in international markets.
The industrial exports grew by 9% year-on-year during June, reaching a total of 832 million dollars, according to the latest Report of Foreign Trade in Goods of the Chamber of Industries of Uruguay (CIU).
The exports Uruguayan companies closed the first half of the year with a positive sign, a trend that was confirmed by the data from the CIU regarding the placement of industrial products, including the cellulose and the concentrated from free trade zones. Thus, foreign trade performance improved by 9% compared to June last year and reached 832 million dollars in the sixth month.
Also, considering the accumulated total for the year – which coincides with the first half of the year – the increase was 6% year-on-year, with a total amount of 4,881 dollars in industrial exports.
On the other hand, if we leave aside the contribution from cellulose placements and from free trade zones, total income was 538 million dollars, which represents a drop of 1.8% compared to June 2023. Foreign sales of this industrial core They also show a decrease in the accumulated year, with a decline of 1.5%, even when there was an increase of 6% in terms of physical volumes, which accounts for the effect produced by the fall in industrial prices.
The performance of the different sectors
The CIU report also included the breakdown by different manufactures, according to their origin. Thus, exports of manufactures of industrial originwith the exception of those carried out from free zones, reached 123 million dollars, a decrease of 6% compared to June 2023, although an increase of the same percentage in the annual accumulation.
The lower monthly performance was due to the decrease in exports of motor vehicles, manufacturing of basic chemical substances and manufacturing of parts and accessories for motor vehicles. A scenario that was offset by the 16% increase in external sales of manufacturing of pharmaceutical products and chemical substances that had a positive impact on the statistics of the subsector.
Meanwhile, the external placements of the manufactures of agricultural origin reached 415 million dollars, which meant a drop of 0.5% compared to June 2023 and 3.8% in the year to date.
This was due to the negative performance of Malt beverage manufacturing (-41%), Dairy product manufacturing (-15%) and Livestock slaughter (-4%). Meanwhile, there was a strong increase in exports of Milling products, driven mainly by the rice, which went from $36 million in June last year to $67 million in the same month this year.
Source: Ambito
