Brazilian exports of mechanical capital goods totaled US$ 824.26 million in August, a 2.6% reduction over July and 15.7% over August last year. Year-to-date foreign sales were $ 6.1 billion, down 5.1% from January-August 2018, according to data released by the Brazilian Machinery and Equipment Industry Association ( Abimaq).
“The drop in exports is strongly related to the slowdown in the growth rate of the major world economies,” it said in a statement, highlighting the continuing trade war between the United States and China, “and problems in several Eurozone countries. ”, In addition to the recession in Argentina,“ one of Brazil’s main trading partners ”.
On the other hand, imports of machinery and equipment exceeded US$ 2 billion in August, an increase of 23.7% over July and 59.6% compared to August 2018. Year-to-date foreign purchases totaled $ 11.5 billion, up 17.3 percent from the same period last year.
According to Abimaq, imports in 2019 began to grow more intensively from May onwards and in specific sectors, such as power generation components, and valves, pipelines and drilling equipment for the oil and gas exploration sector.
The entity also informs that the forecast of growth of 5% of the sector this year as a whole will not be confirmed. The expectation now is a 1% advance.
With information from the Brazil-Arab News Agency