Brasília, June 30, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Brazil's cumulative trade balance surplus this year of US$ 10.272 billion, through June 29, constitutes a historical record, surpassing the first half of 1989, when it attained US$ 8.986 billion, informed the Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade.

In the fourth week of June, the US$ 629 million foreign trade surplus lifted the cumulative figure for the month (through the 29th) to US$ 2.231 billion, which also beats the US$ 2.085 billion of June, 1989.

The average per business day in the fourth week came to US$ 303 million in exports, which represents a 42.7% improvement over June, 2002, and a 4.1% decline in comparison with May, 2003.

On the import side, the average per business day in the fourth week of June amounted to US$ 177.2 million, 2.1% higher than in June, 2002, and 5.7% lower than in May, 2003. (DAS)