Brazilian foreign trade closed 2023 breaking a historic export record, with a trade balance close to US$100 billion and an increase in the number of exporting companies. Last year's consolidated trade balance figures were released this Friday (5/1) by the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services.
In 2023, exports reached US$339.67 billion, an unprecedented result for the country, exceeding the 2022 figures by 1.7%. The volume exported grew by 8.7%, while prices fell by 6.3%. Imports fell by 11.7% and closed 2023 at US$ 240.83 billion. Prices of imported goods fell by 8.8%, while volume reduced by 2.6%. The combination of these two movements led to a trade balance of US$98.8 billion – exceeding the previous record, which was set in 2022, by 60.6%.
Contributing to this expressive result, among other factors, was the greater presence of Brazilian companies in foreign trade. The total number of exporting firms grew 2% in 2023, reaching 28.5 thousand companies, also a record number.
The main destination for Brazilian products in 2023 was China. Exports to the Asian giant reached US$105.75 billion – an increase of 16.5% over 2022. It is the first time in the history of Brazilian foreign trade that exports to a single trading partner exceed US$100 billion.
Also notable, among the countries to which sales grew, were exports to Argentina, which increased by 8.9% compared to 2022, totaling US$16.72 billion. For two other large partners, the USA and the European Union, there was a drop of 1.5% and 9.1%, respectively.
Imports registered a drop in relation to three of these four partners: USA (-26%), China (-12.4%) and Argentina (-8.4%). At the same time, Brazilian purchases from the European Union grew 2.6% and totaled US$45.42 billion, with highlights from France, Germany and Italy.
The annual trade flow (exports + imports) was US$580.507 billion, 4.3% below 2022.
The vice-president and minister of the MDIC, Geraldo Alckmin, celebrated the results when opening the press conference for journalists. “Foreign trade is fundamental for the economy, for employment, for income, for Brazilian development.” He highlighted the role of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in increasing business with other countries. “I want to highlight President Lula’s efforts going to the main markets in the world, in Asia, Africa, Europe, the United States, here in Latin America.” As an example, Alckmin cited the Mercosur-Singapore agreement, signed after 12 years, during Brazil's presidency of Mercosur.
To obtain good results, the minister also highlighted the work of the Ministries of Finance, Planning and Foreign Affairs, the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).
The Secretary of Foreign Trade, Tatiana Prazeres, highlighted the various contributions of a robust trade balance to the Brazilian economy. “This significant surplus contributes to external accounts and to increasing the supply of dollars in the economy and keeping the real strong in relation to the American currency. This helps to contain inflationary pressures, improve consumers' purchasing power, and contributes to our international reserves. And this increases confidence in the economy,” she highlighted. “Brazil’s historic surplus even contributes to the fact that, finally, our current account deficit is the lowest it has been in a long time.”
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