Argentina generated a trade surplus of USD 797 million last January, the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) reported on Tuesday (20.02.2024).
However, the surplus recorded in the first month of this year is below that achieved in December, which reached USD 1.018 billion.
According to Indec, trade volume (exports plus imports) fell by 2,9% year-on-year in January, to a total of USD 9.999 billion.
Exports
According to the report, in January the country exported $5.398 million, 9,6% more than the same month in 2023.
This increase was due to the sale of primary products (PP) with an increase of 55,4%, which corresponded to USD 580 million; in this category, the quantities increased by 63,7% compared to January 2023 and the prices decreased by 5,8%.
The value of fuel and energy exports (CyE) rose by 10,3%, while prices fell by 15,4% and quantities increased by 31,2%. In this area, the increase in crude oil sales stood out.
Regarding Manufactures of Agricultural Origin (MOA) rose by 3,1%, equivalent to USD 56 million, due to a 16,6% increase in quantities, with a 14,4% drop in prices.
For exports of Manufactures of Industrial Origin (MOI) the drop was USD 226 million, 15,6% year-on-year, due to a 10% decline in quantities and a 5,5% decline in values.
Imports
As regards imports, they amounted to $4.601 million, which represented a sharp year-on-year drop of 14,3%. In this case, prices and quantities decreased by 3,6% and 11,3% respectively.
By economic zones and selected countries
In January, trade with Mercosur registered a positive balance of USD 54 millions. 78,9% of the total was destined for Brazil; 9,7% for Uruguay; 8,7% for Paraguay; and 2,7% for Venezuela.
Argentina also maintained a trade surplus with the rest of ALADI (USD 720 million), Chile (USD 352 million) and Peru (USD 234 million).
Instead, the country maintains trade deficit with China for USD 558 million, the European Union for USD 451 million and USMCA (United States, Mexico and Canada) for USD 125 million, in that order. (Argentine trade. Estimated figures for January 2024)
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