Brazil's trade surplus falls in first seven months

Brazil's trade surplus in the first seven months of 2010 was down 45.1 percent year-on-year, the Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Ministry said Monday.

The ministry said the surplus reached 9.237 billion U.S. dollars, as exports in the seven months totaled 106.861 billion dollars, up 27.1 percent year-on-year. Imports totaled 97.624 billion dollars, up 45.1 percent year-on-year.

From August 2009 to July 2010, Brazil accumulated a trade surplus of 17.699 billion dollars, down 34.3 percent from the previous 12-month period.

According to the latest Focus market survey released earlier on Monday by the Brazilian Central Bank, the expected trade surplus this year has been lowered from 15.41 to 15.1 billion dollars. The market foresees a trade surplus of 8.5 billion dollars for the year 2011.

Source: Xinhua