The Brazilian balance of trade registered a $458 million surplus in March. It is the first positive monthly outcome this year. Data were released on Wednesday (Apr 1) by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.

The positive balance totals $16.979 billion for exports and $16.521 for imports, and may be ascribed more to the reduction in imports than to the increase in Brazil's sales overseas.

March notwithstanding, the year-to-date balance stands at a negative $5.557 billion. In the same period last year, the deficit amounted to $6.078 billion.

The daily average (financial volume per business day) for exports reached $771.8 million, down 16.8% from March 2014. The decline was driven by basic products, chiefly iron ore, crude oil, beef, chicken, soy, and grain corn. Altogether, a 29.7% drop was reported as the daily average.

As for manufactured goods, the decrease was observed at 6.1%. On the list are such products as airplanes, refined sugar, pneumatics, auto pieces, pumps, compressors, machines used in earthworks, and motors for vehicles.

The revenue from semi-manufactured goods exported was the only seen to grow—an average of 8.8% per day. cast iron, gold, raw sugar, iron alloys, wood, and cellulose contributed to the outcome.

The average in March for imports was registered at $751 million, down 18.5% from March 2014. There was a decline in the purchase of fuels and lubricants (-28%), raw materials and intermediate goods (-18.8%), capital goods (-16.3%) and consumption goods (-13.7%) from abroad.