Brazil's 2024 Trade Surplus Drops to $74.6 Billion Due to Surge in Imports

On Monday, Brazil announced a significant drop in its trade surplus for 2024, with the figure declining to $74.6 billion. This represents an approximately 25% decrease compared to the previous year's surplus. The primary reason for the decline was attributed to an increase in imports as the country's economy initially performed better than expected.

The annual figures followed a December surplus that reached $4.8 billion, surpassing economists' estimates of $3.9 billion. Despite the annual drop, the 2024 surplus is the second highest recorded since 1989, trailing only the $98.9 billion surplus seen in 2023.

Brazil's 2024 export figures fell to $337 billion, showing a slight decrease of 0.8% compared to the previous year. This minor decline was due to a drop in both prices and quantities of major export products such as soybeans and corn. Conversely, driven by robust domestic demand, imports rose by 9% to $262.5 billion.

The country's economic performance consistently exceeded forecasts throughout 2024, with the government estimating a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 3.5% for the year.

Looking ahead to 2025, the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade, and Services projected the trade surplus to be between $60 billion and $80 billion.