STORY-TRÅD·politik

Brazil’s July trade balance posts USD 7B surplus

With exports of USD 34.1 billion and imports of USD 27.1 billion, Brazil recorded a trade surplus of just over USD 7 billion in July. The data were released on Thursday (Aug. 6) by the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade, and Services. Trade flow (the sum of exports and imports) totaled USD 61.17 billion during the period, representing a 6.8 percent increase compared with July 2025. Both exports (up 6.2 percent) and imports (up 7.6 percent) rose compared with the same period last year. Key exported and imported products Notícias relacionadas:Brazil’s Central Bank cuts benchmark interest rate to 14%.Second quarter has 5.4% unemployment, lowest ever for the period.Aircraft, oil, coffee, beef exempt from tariffs imposed by US.According to the ministry, agricultural exports increased by 9.3 percent, driven mainly by soybean exports, which were up by approximately USD 870 million. In the extractive industry, crude oil exports rose by USD 960 million, while in the manufacturing sector, fuel oil exports also increased by USD 960 million. In the case of fuels, export growth exceeded 63 percent. July’s imports were driven mainly by higher purchases of petroleum fuel oils (up USD 500 million), automatic data-processing machines and their units (up USD 320 million), medicines and pharmaceutical products, excluding veterinary products (up USD 320 million), thermionic, cold-cathode, or photocathode valves and tubes, diodes and transistors (up USD 290 million), and ethylene polymers in primary forms (up USD 150 million). Trading partners According to July’s trade balance results, China remains Brazil’s main trading partner, accounting for nearly one-third of Brazilian exports last month, with shipments totaling more than USD 10.7 billion - an 8.6 percent increase compared with July 2025. The United States ranked second, accounting for 10.7 percent of Brazilian exports in July, down 5 percent from the same month in 2025. The decline does not yet reflect the effects of the US government’s new tariff hike, which took effect on July 22 and is expected to affect August sales, with data to be released in early September. Brazil’s exports to Argentina also fell last month, declining by nearly USD 230 million, or 13.9 percent compared with July of last year. Although not directly related, this development comes at a time of renewed tensions between the governments of the two neighboring countries following successive attacks by Argentine President Javier Milei against Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The dispute led Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to downgrade diplomatic relations with Buenos Aires. Year-to-date From January through July, Brazil’s trade balance recorded a surplus of USD 49 billion, with both imports and exports increasing compared with the same period last year. Year-to-date figures (January–July 2026): Exports: USD 218.6 billion (+10.5%) Imports: USD 169.5 billion (+5.5%) Total trade: USD 388.1 billion (+8.2%) Trade balance: USD 49 billion surplus