With a little help from the rise in oil production, less imports and oil price drop, Brazil may get by with a surplus in its balance of trade, opposed to a fourteen-year long deficit, which mounted to US$ 20.3 billion in 2013.

The Brazilian Association of International Trading (AEB, as it is recognized in Brazil) has declared that the combination of the above factors will entail a decrease of nearly US$ 6 billion in the oil import balance, US$ 2 billion out of that resulting from the drop in oil barrel prices worldwide, AEB officials said.

The bottom line is, the oil import / export trade account, as AEB officials stated, is likely to end up with a U$ 14 billion shortfall, helping the Brazilian trade balance out of the red, as a small surplus would result.

Officials of the Brazilian Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MDIC) have put forward that the deficit in the oil import / export balance dropped from US$ 16.5 billion to US$ 12.9 billion.

José Augusto de Castro, the CEO of AEB, commented that, “As oil prices drop, the performance of the oil import / export balance will likely help in improving the bottom line of the country´s balance of trade”.

Oil Prices May Strike Down on Exports

Petrobras officials have declared that the NOC has no plans to change the 1H14 import pace, at least until late December, as far as oil and derivative products are concerned.

Government officials of the international trade department have warned that there are two sides to the tale, which should not be missed, as earnings from petroleum exports are likely to shrink, as petroleum costs go down.

Brazil oil exports across nine months of 2014 reached US$ 19.422 billion, opposed to US$ 32.311 billion.