The first four months of 2020 were profitable for Brazilian ag exporters. Brazil’s agricultural exports to China were worth $31.4 billion from January through April. MercoPress reports that it marked a 5.9 percent increase year-over-year.
The growth in agricultural exports to China resulted in a more than 11 percent increase in export volume, while the index price actually suffered a drop of 4.7 percent. The Brazilian Department of Trade and International Relations says those sales numbers broke the record for the largest amount ever shipped between January and April.
The agricultural exports accounted for almost half of the total number of Brazilian exports (46.6 percent) during the first four months of this year. Brazil took in $4.57 billion worth of imports, which resulted in an agribusiness trade surplus of $26.83 billion during that time.
Soybean exports were big from January through April, setting records in terms of revenue worth $11.5 billion and quantity at 33.66 million tons shipped. That’s despite a 4.2 percent drop in the average price for soybeans.
Brazil sent China a whopping 73.4 percent of its total grain exports and sold a record $2.13 billion worth of fresh beef to China.