From January to April 2022, exports reached the highest historical amount for the first four months of a year.
• In the first four-month period, exports totalled US$ 27.7 billion and surpassed the previous record of January-April 2012 by 14%. They accumulate a y-o-y increase of 28.5%, which is explained by a rise in prices (22.5%) and, to a lesser extent, in quantities (4.8%).
• The trade balance achieved a surplus at US$ 2.8 billion, US$ 1.2 billion less than the positive result of January-April 2021, resulting from the greater pace of growth of imports than exports.
• In April, record levels of exports of primary products and manufactures of agricultural origin were reached, while manufactures of industrial origin hit their highest rate since 2013 for the same month.
• Highlights include increases in the exports of wheat (US$ 1.6 billion), crude oil (US$ 922 million), maize (US$ 817 million) and biodiesel (US$ 616 million). The biggest falls correspond to the soybean complex: flour and pellets (-US$ 474 million), beans (-US$ 228 million) and oil ( US$ 221 million).
• It is worth highlighting the increase in the prices of all the products of the soybean complex: biodiesel, 49.2%, oil, 43.5%, beans, 16.6%, and flour, 5.2%. In relation to the quantities, those of biodiesel (122.7%) increased, while those of beans (-96.1%), oil (-37.6%) and flours and pellets ( 16.1%) decreased.
• On the import side, the largest purchases of diesel (US$ 1.3 billion), fuel oil (US$ 243 million) and gasoline, excluding those for aviation, (US$ 240 million) stand out, while those of soybeans (US$ 261 million) and motor vehicles mainly for the transport of people, with a capacity of > 1,500 cm3 and <= 3,000 cm3, with a capacity of <= 6 people (US$ 79 million), decreased.
• The three main partners, Brazil, China and the United States, absorbed as a whole 26.4% of the exports and supplied 51.5% of the imports in the first four-month period.
• The largest surpluses were in trade with Chile (US$ 1.4 billion), the Netherlands (US$ 1.1 billion), India (US$ 797 million), Indonesia (US$ 770 million), Peru (US$ 716 million) and Algeria (US$ 684 million).
• The highest deficits were recorded with China (-US$ 4.0 billion), Brazil (-US$ 1.2 billion), Germany (-US$ 647 million) and Thailand (-US$ 475 million).
