The exchanges of industrial goods decreased by 11.2% during the first quarter of the year compared to the end of 2023; while in the year-on-year comparison they fell by 0.9%. This negative result occurs for the first time in six quarters, after five consecutive positive balances.
The data comes from the Terms of Trade report prepared by the Directorate of Economic Studies of the Chamber of Industries of Uruguay (CIU)and they give an account of a break in the positive trend which continued throughout 2023 and had begun in the last quarter of 2022, with improvements in the exchange of industrial goods.
This disaggregated decrease of 11.2% was due to the increase in import prices by 7.8%, as well as the decrease in prices from exportation by 4.4%. Furthermore, in the year-on-year comparison, the fall in the terms of trade was explained by a more pronounced fall in export prices (-9.9%) compared to import prices (-8.9%).
On the other hand, the fall in import prices in the comparison between the last quarter of last year and the first of this year responded to a drop in import prices of the intermediate goodswhich was 11.3% and had a negative impact of 6.6 percentage points.
As regards export prices in the year-on-year comparison, they fell as a result of the deterioration of export prices in the agricultural sector, which experienced a fall of 14.3%, with a particular impact on wheat prices, which fell by 19.5%. At the same time, prices in the manufacturing sector fell to a lesser extent, by 6.4%.
Despite falling prices, exports grew in June
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.
Source: Ambito
