Stênio Ribeiro
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - During his trip to Uruguay, where he attended the inauguration of the new president, Tabaré Vásquez, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva commemorated the success of Brazil's exports, which for the first time topped the barrier of US$ 100 billion in annual sales, between March, 2004, and February, 2005.

The news was conveyed to the President, yesterday (28), by the Minister of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade, Luiz Fernando Furlan, after the figures for February's trade balance were closed. The numbers, according to the Minister, "were surprising."

According to Furlan, President Lula was very pleased to hear the news and launched a challenge for exports now to pursue the annual mark of US$ 150 billion.

According to the Minister, this year's official target for foreign sales is US$ 108 billion, which represents a growth of 12% compared with the US$ 96.4 billion obtained in 2004.

Minister Furlan admitted, however, that this target could be reevaluated during the course of the year, as was the case last year. He hopes that exports continue to drive growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and industrial production.

He said that Brazil needs to sell a greater volume now, to offset currency losses, but he pointed out that, despite this situation, the behavior of the trade balance in February was "surprisingly good," to the extent that a surplus of US$ 2.786 billion accrued during the month, which had only 18 business days. The surplus was substantially greater than those registered in January, 2005 (US$ 2.184 billion) and February, 2004 (US$ 1.970 billion).

Exports last month amounted to US$ 7.756 billion, against imports of US$ 4.970 billion. With this result, exports over the past twelve months (March, 2004 - February, 2005) totaled US$ 100.153 billion (up 33.9%), while imports grew 33.5% over the same period to US$ 65.054 billion.

The trade surplus for the first two months of this year comes to US$ 4.970 billion, 39.76% greater than the US$ 3.556 billion surplus registered during the same period last year.

Translation: David Silberstein