Brasília, 6/24/3 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - With only seven days left until the end of the first half, Brazil has a foreign trade surplus of US$9.6 billion, with total exports of US$31.143 billion and imports of US$21.496 billion. The surplus is the best ever, and is four times what the trade surplus was at this time last year (US$2.372 billion).

According to the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (Secex), a strong factor in the export spike has been the search for new buyers by Brazilian exporters. The Agriculture Confederation (Confederação da Agricultura e Pecuária do Brasil) (CNA) cites the favorable exchange rate as another important factor, especially in the agrobusiness sector.

Exports in all categories - basic, manufactured and semi-manufactured - have risen, compared to 2002. The biggest increases have been in basic goods, such as soybean and coffee grains, iron ore, beef and poultry, tobacco leaves and soybean flakes - up an average 86.6%, compared to a year ago.

Semi-manufactured goods are up 58% (mainly pulp (cellulose), iron and steel, soybean oil, sugar, leather and skins, and aluminum). As for manufactured goods, such as trucks, passenger cars, orange juice, fuel oils, footwear, autoparts, vehicle motors, transmitters and receivers, and laminated iron and steel, they rose 19.5%, compared to last year.

There has also been an increase in imports. Compared to last June, imports are up 1.4%. Last week Brazil's main imports were: steel goods (37.2%), cereal and ground grains (35%), fertilizers (19.8%), chemicals (7.2%), mechanical equipment (1.6%) and pharmaceuticals (1.1%). (AB)