10 February 2006 - Brazil had revenues of US$ 2.9 billion with sales of agricultural products on the foreign market in the month of January. The value is a record for the first month of the year. Sugar, alcohol, meats and soy were the items that contributed most to the performance.
São Paulo - Brazilian agribusiness exports reached US$ 2.9 billion in January this year, a record for the first month of the year. The sector trade balance surplus was US$ 2.4 billion, according to figures supplied by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply.
The products that most contributed to the performance were sugar, alcohol, meats and soy. Despite the embargo imposed by 56 countries due to cases of foot and mouth in the country, sales of meats rose 28% in January, and reached US$ 608 million.
Exports of soy in grain rose 133% in the month in terms of revenues and 103% in terms of volume. The prices were 14.3% greater than in the same period last year.
Sales of sugar grew 26% and those of alcohol 94.5%. Sugar mills had revenues of US$ 268.2 million with exports due to a 33.4% increase in bulk product prices and 50% in the prices of refined sugar. Alcohol prices also rose 49%.
In the accumulated result for the last 12 months, agribusiness exports totalled 43.9 billion, 11.9% over the value exported between February 2004 and January 2005. The accumulated surplus was US$ 38.6 billion.