Argentina closed the year 2020 with a Trade surplus of 12.528 billion dollars, 21,6 percent lower than in 2019, the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) reported this Tuesday (26.01.2021/XNUMX/XNUMX).
December saw a trade deficit of $2018 million for the first time since August 364, according to data from the official data. It was caused by the fall of the exports of US$ 1.830 million and the rise of iimports for $775 billion.
The December deficit was caused by a 34,1 percent year-on-year drop in exports and a 24,7 percent increase in imports. The lower sales revenue was mainly explained by a 44,2 percent (871 million dollars) drop in shipments of manufactured goods of agricultural origin (MOA). Likewise, sales of primary products fell by 45,3 percent (621 million dollars), highlighting a drop of 397 million dollars in cereal exports.
The record of the lowest monthly value of exports of the year coincides with the decline in sales operations at customs offices in San Lorenzo, Rosario and Bahía Blanca mainly, the report says.
In the twelve months of 2020, goods and services worth 54.884 billion dollars were exported and imported for 42.356 billion dollars. Trade (exports plus imports) decreased by 14,9 percent and reached a value of 97.240 billion dollars.
Exports decreased by 15,7 percent due to a decrease in quantities and prices of 13,2 percent and 2,9 percent, respectively. Imports fell by 13,8 percent due to a decrease of -10,5 percent in quantities and -3,5 percent in prices.
With few exceptions, there were declines in all exported items. The largest declines were recorded in exports of manufactured goods of industrial origin (MOI) by 30,7 percent, with its sub-items showing generalized declines: mainly due to lower sales of land transport material, common metals and their manufactures, and chemical and related products, among others. The fuel and energy category also suffered a significant reduction compared to 2019: 19,3 percent. Except for petroleum gas, all categories that make up the category fell compared to 2019. Primary products and manufactures of agricultural origin, although lower than in 2019, were not as pronounced: 7,4 and 9,1 percent respectively. Within both categories, the year-on-year increase in exports of dairy products (26,4 percent) and unprocessed vegetables and legumes (15,6 percent) stands out.
In the analysis of the imports, the category that suffered the greatest year-on-year drop was fuels and lubricants (-40,6 percent), followed by passenger motor vehicles at 31,7 percent. An important category as a barometer of economic activity is imports of capital goods (i.e. machines for factories, computers, telephones and industrial transportation equipment), which fell 13,4 percent compared to 2019, but at the same time increased 34,3 percent in the year-on-year count for December 2020 compared to 2019. Intermediate goods decreased 2,1 percent due to purchases of processed industrial supplies, while purchases of food and beverages, mainly for industry, and medicines, increased.
Partners
In 2020, the main trading partners were Brazil, China and the United States, in that order. These three countries together absorbed 30,4 percent of Argentina's exports and supplied 51,4 percent of imports. Sales to Brazil reached 7.956 billion dollars and purchases, 8.685 billion dollars. The trade balance was a deficit of 729 million dollars. Exports to China totaled 5.3 million dollars and imports, 8.664 billion dollars, with a trade deficit of 3.2 million dollars. Sales to the United States totaled 3.3 million dollars and imports 4.4 million dollars. The deficit with that country was 1.1 million dollars.
The top three countries with which a surplus result were Chile (163 million dollars), India ($102 million) and Indonesia (67 million dollars).
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