Argentina had a trade surplus of US$2.339 billion in August, the highest since November 2019, according to Indec. The improvement was driven by a sharp increase in exports, which had the best August since 2011 and climbed to their highest monthly level since May 2013.According to the official numbers published this day, external sales reached US $ 8,093 million in the eighth month of the year, which meant an annual increase of 63.3%.
The main contribution came from shipments of primary products, which grew by 69.2% year-on-year (+US$1,136 million) and represented 34.3% of total exports. Within this segment, the largest increases were in cereals for US$564 million, and in oil seeds and fruits (including soybeans) for US$426 million. In addition, the contribution of manufactures, both of agricultural origin (MOA) and of industrial origin (MOI), stands out, since between them they contributed an additional US$ 1,619 million compared to sales in August last year. Among the MOAs, increases in fats and oils, and in pellets, stood out, while among the MOIs the main increases were verified in land transport material, chemical products, and base metals and their manufactures. Although fuel and energy exports were the ones with the lowest share in the total, they were the ones that grew the most in annual terms. In parallel, imports in August totaled about US$5,754 million, a level similar to that recorded in the previous two months. However, compared to August 2020, a notable increase of 64% was also observed.
Regarding trading partners, Brazil remained the most important. The trade balance with the neighboring country yielded a favorable result for Argentina of US$44 million. The largest surpluses were recorded in trade with India (+$306 million), Chile (+US$300 million) and Vietnam (+US$208 million). At the other extreme, the largest trade deficits were with the US (-US$211 million), China (-US$175 million) and Paraguay (-US$115 million). With these numbers, in the first eight months of 2021 the country accumulated a trade surplus of US$10,649 million, the second highest in the last decade for this period behind the 2020 result.
In this note:
