The trade surplus in May would have grown 42.4% had it not been for the nationalization of two oil platforms totaling US $ 2.7 billion, said Foreign Trade Secretary at the Ministry of Economy, Lucas Ferraz (photo). Without these operations, the surplus last month would have reached about US $ 7.3 billion and would have broken a record for the months of May.

Although operating in the country, these platforms were registered with Petrobras subsidiaries abroad. With the migration to the special customs regime Repetro-Sped, in force since 2018, platforms have gradually been nationalized, impacting imports.

In July, the Ministry of Economy will update its trade surplus estimate - exports minus imports - for the year. At the moment, the official projection is R $ 46.6 billion, but the Foreign Trade Secretary said that the change may not be so great.

Coronavirus 

In addition to oil platforms, the Foreign Trade Secretary said that the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus had an impact on the May trade balance. The effect was due to the average drop of 15.6% in the prices of exported products in relation to May 2019, which did not offset the increase in the quantity sold. The volume shipped increased 2.9% in April and 5.6% in May compared to the same months last year.

When considering both effects (price and quantity), the exported value fell 4.2% in May. However, when considering the increase in the exported quantity, Ferraz said he believes that Brazilian exports will be less affected by the pandemic than other countries.

“Yes, there is a high probability that we will have a positive performance for Brazilian exports in the consolidated result of the second quarter of this year, keeping Brazil among the economies of the G20 [group of the 20 largest economies on the planet] less affected in its trade relations with the world ”, Commented the secretary.