Brasília, May 10, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - The cumulative surplus in the Brazilian trade balance this year, through Sunday (9), comes to US$ 8.66 billion, according to information released by the Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade.

Exports over this period amounted to US$ 27.612 billion, with a daily average of US$ 317.4 million (23.9% more than in May, 2003). Imports totaled US$ 18.952 billion, with a daily average of US$ 217.8 million (15.5% more than in May, 2003).

The trade surplus for the first week of May (1-9) was US$ 534 million, with sales of US$ 1.574 billion and purchases worth US$ 1.040 billion. The daily averages per business day were US$ 329.5 million for exports and US$ 231.6 million for imports, a growth of 3.7% and 13.3%, respectively, in comparison with May, 2003. In comparison with April, 2004, however, the daily averages were down 4.5% and 10.2%, in exports and imports, respectively. Government specialists attribute this result to the fiscal auditors' strike, which caused merchandise to pile up in customs houses.

This adversity, however, did not change the mood of the financial market when it comes to the country's trade balance. For the third week in a row, the Central Bank's Focus Survey reveals that investors and analysts maintained their forecast of a US$ 25 billion trade surplus in 2004.

Translator: David Silberstein