GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE TRADE RELATIONS BETWEEN BRAZIL AND CHINA

The year of 2006 can be described as the consolidation year for the trade relations between Brazil and China. Brazil's perspectives on its trade interchange with China remains positive. The trade flow between both countries exceeded USD 16 billion in 2006 (in 2005 was of USD US$ 12,187 billion), even thought Brazil's surplus has decreased from USD 1.479 to USD 410.7 million in 2004.

Exports

According to the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC), Brazilian exports to China increased from US$ 1.085 billion in 2000 to US$ 8.400 billion in 2006. These numbers represent a growth of more than 650% in seven years.

Even with the reduction of the Brazilian surplus in relation to China, the country continues to be the 3rd destination for the Brazilian exports.

The exports scope from Brazil to China is concentrated in a reduced number of products, basically commodities and semi-manufactured. Basic products relative participation has been growing more quickly than the exports of manufacture and, nowadays, it represents 68% of Brazil total exports to China. Comparing to other markets, the average participation of based-products in Brazilian exports was of 29.3% in 2006.

Five major Brazilian products exported to China were responsible for more than 70% of the total exports in 2006: soybeans (28.95% of the exported total), no-agglomerated iron ores (25.5%), crude oils (9.95%), agglomerated iron ores (5.81%), wood chemical paste (4.14%).

The soybean complex and ores have been maintaining a participation of more than 50% in the exports scope since 2001. In 2003, concerning the Brazilian exports of soybean, China surpassed Japan and became the largest importer of Brazilian soybean. In 2006, China imported USD 2.432 billion, representing a growth of 41.62% comparing to the same period in 2005.

The growth in the Chinese metallurgical industry stimulates the imports of iron ore. China is the main buyer of iron ore produced in Brazil with imports of US$ 1.785 billion in 2005 (+60%), continuing to expand their imports in 2006 (USD 2.629 billion, a growth of +47% from 2005).

Imports

Brazilian imports from China increased from US$ 1.222 billion in 2000 to US$ 7.989 billion in 2006. These numbers represent a growth of more than 550% in seven years. The participation of China in the Brazilian imports scope increased from 2.19% in 2000 to 8.7% in 2006.

Brazilian imports scope from China has a high participation of machines, electronic devices and electronic materials. A significant part of the electric-electronics products imported from China are components used in the computer industry, telephony and other electric apparels, being part of the productive chain of the industries installed in Brazil, especially in the States of Amazonas, São Paulo and Bahia.

The ten major imported products from China in 2006 were: parts for transmitters and receivers apparels (6.48% of the imports scope), LCD liquid crystals devices (3.62%), portable terminals of mobile phone (2.24%), recording and reproduction apparels (1.65%), parts for apparels and receivers of radio and television (1.49%), coal buns of linite or peat (1.40%), printed circuit (1.29%), video cameras (1.06%), polyester filament fabric with texture larger than 85% (0.98%), cathode-ray tubes for TV receptors (0.93%)

In 2006, regarding the growth of imports, the most important were: parts for TV cameras, video and radio remote control apparatus (+502%), microwave ovens (+400%), units of magnetic disks for hard disk drives (+341%) and earphones (+335%).

Bilateral trade statistics:

Description: The Brazilian Economy and Trade Relations between Brazil and China (2006)
Language: English (PDF format, 650Kb)