Brasília, January 2, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The trade balance surplus in the fifth week of December (29 to 31) was US$ 309 million, bringing last year's cumulative total to US$ 24.831 billion, as against US$ 13.126 billion in 2002.

In December, 2003, the trade surplus came to US$ 2.759 billion, with exports of US$ 6.748 billion and imports of US$ 3.909 billion. These figures were released today by the Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade. (DAS)