Imports of chemical products until November total US$ 41,1 billion

Brazil imported US$3,5 billion in chemical products in November. The value represents a reduction of 17,6% compared to October this year and 14,1% compared to November 2018. In the year to date, in turn, external purchases of chemical products total US$41,1 billion, an increase of 3% compared to the same period last year.

In terms of quantities, movements that exceeded 43,8 million tons, until November, meant an increase of 7% compared to the same period in 2018. The high levels of acquisitions will make 2019, with a projection of more than 47,5, 45,2 million tons, the third year in which the record in volumes of external purchases of chemical products was broken consecutively (previously 2018 million tons in 43,1 and 2017 million tons in XNUMX), especially in intermediaries for fertilizers, products that have full technical and economic conditions to be manufactured in the country.

Exports, at US$931,8 million, in November, were 9% lower compared to October and 20,8% compared to the same month in 2018. Between January and November this year, sales abroad totaled US$ 11,6 billion, a decline of 6,8% compared to the same period last year. Thermoplastic resins, with sales of US$1,7 billion, were the chemical products most exported by the country, despite a drop of 11,2% from January to November 2019 compared to the same period last year.

The deficit in the trade balance of chemical products, in the year to date, reached US$ 29,5 billion, 7,4% above that recorded in the same period of 2018. In the last 12 months (December 2018 to November this year), the deficit of US$31,8 billion is only lower than that of 2013, then US$32 billion.

“For the third year in a row, the volume of imports will be a record. Purchases of foreign goods are expected to exceed 47,5 million tons in 2019, with a share, also a record, of 42% of all national consumption of chemical products. In a scenario like this, a competitiveness agenda with fast deliveries becomes even more crucial for the systemic improvement of the business environment. Both the present and the future of the entire Brazilian industry, especially the chemical industry, are on the agenda and this is exactly why the chemical sector defends an international insertion process supported by negotiations with strategic partners, assessment of economic and regulatory impact, dialogue, transparent and conditioned on the progressive reduction of the Brazil Cost”, highlights Denise Naranjo, director of Foreign Trade Affairs at Abiquim.