In the first eight months of the year, exports totalled US$ 59.7 billion and imports US$ 57.5 billion, representing record levels for this period.
Highlights:
- Exports recorded between January and August 2022 exceeded by almost US$ 4.7 billion the previous maximum value over the same period of 2011. They accumulate a year-on-year increase of 17.7%, which is explained by an increase in prices (19.7%), while the quantities decreased (−1.6%).
- Imports grew 43.6%, and were driven by higher quantities and prices of Fuels and lubricants, and by increases in the prices of Intermediate goods and in the quantities of Capital goods and their parts.
- The trade balance achieved a surplus at US$ 2.2 billion, US$ 8.5 billion less than the positive result of January-August 2021, resulting from the greater pace of growth of imports than exports.
- The main trading partners were Brazil, China, the EU and the United States, which absorbed as a whole 40.2% of the exports and supplied 66.5% of the imports in January-August 2022.
- The largest surpluses were in trade with Chile (US$ 2.8 billion), India (US$ 2.1 billion), the Netherlands (US$ 1.9 billion), Peru (US$ 1.4 billion) Vietnam (US$ 1.3 billion) and Indonesia (US$ 1.2 billion).
- The highest deficits were recorded with China (US$ 7.6 billion), United States (US$ 3.5 billion), Brazil (US$ 2.8 billion), Germany (US$ 1.3 billion) and Bolivia (US$ 1.2 billion).
- Highlights include increases in wheat exports (US$ 1.9 billion), crude oil (US$ 1.3 billion), maize (US$ 1.1 billion) and frozen bovine meat, boneless (US$ 0.6 billion). The largest drop corresponds to soybeans (−US$ 1.3 billion).
- It is worth highlighting the increases in the prices of all the products of the soybean complex: oil, 39.8%; biodiesel, 22.9%; beans, 21.1%; and flour, 9.4%. In relation to the quantities, those of beans (−68.8%), oil (−25.9%), flours and pellets (−11.0%) and biodiesel (−1.0%) decreased.
- Regarding imports, there stand out the highest purchases of diesel oil (US$ 2.7 billion), liquefied natural gas (US$ 1.6 billion), gasoline, excluding that for aviation (US$ 0.5 billion), natural gas in gaseous state (US$ 0.5 billion) and fuel oil (US$ 0.5 billion), while those of soybeans (−US$ 0.2 billion) decreased.
