Brazil's trade balance continues to show good results: sales reached a US$ 1.332 billion surplus in the third week of August, after US$ 4.117 billion in exports and US$ 2.785 billion in imports, according to data from the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services (MDIC).

For the month of August so far, Brazil has exported US$ 11.050 billion and imported US$ 8.502 billion, for a total surplus of US$ 2.548 billion, adding to an accumulated trade surplus of US$ 45.058 billion for 2017.

Exports in the third week of August were 6.9% higher than the second week, driven mainly by increased sales of manufactured goods (+16.1%, specially automobiles, aircraft and fuel oils) and commodities (+4.1%, especially crude oil, soybean meal, coffee beans and live cattle).

Meanwhile, imports decreased by 12.3%, chiefly the result of lower purchases of fertilisers, electrical and electronic equipment, iron and steel, organic and inorganic chemicals, mechanical equipment, plastics and civil construction inputs.