Brazil suffers the first trade deficit of $3.93 billion since 1998

Brazil has been a sufferer in the aluminium business in 2014, with exports dipping by 23.5% year-on-year as the primary producers in the country cut production capacities.

In 2013, 404,847 tonnes of unwrought non alloyed metal was shipped abroad which fell to 309,878 tonnes in 2014 according to the figures released on January 5, by the Brazil’s foreign trade mininstry, MDIC.

The company that is partly owned by Norsk Hydro and partly by the Japanese Nippon Amazon Aluminium Corp. is the only primary aluminium producer that has not cut production in the year due to its prior commitment to its Japanese vendors.

The total revenues generated from export was $225.1 billion in 2014 while $229.03 billion was the import costs resulting in the $3.93 billion trade deficit seen last year which is the country’s worst performance since 1998, according to Ministry records.

In December, Brazil’s unwrought not alloyed aluminium exports were down by 45.1% year-on-year shipping only 26,131 tonnes of aluminium in 2014 compared to 47,571 tonnes exported in December 2013.

The export revenues in December 2014 was $60.2 million while in 2013, it was $90.49 million according to the MDIC.