RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Oil exports from Brazil in March have already surpassed the volumes shipped in the same month of the previous year.
Therefore, despite fears of a reduction in demand due to impacts related to the new coronavirus, official government data pointed out this Monday.
Foreign sales of the commodity totaled 4.83 million tons until the third week of the month, against 4.49 million tons in all of March last year, informed the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex).
oil export
The volume already shipped also represents more than two thirds of exports carried out in the whole of last month, of 6.06 million tons. But the daily average of shipments registered a drop of 4% compared to February.
the prices of commodity sold by the country, in turn, fell in comparison with a year earlier.
The average price of oil exported by Brazil in the first half of March totaled US$356.3 per ton, down 12.8% compared to the entire month of March 2019. In comparison with the whole of February, the average price dropped by 1.7% .
Brent crude futures have already fallen by around 60% this year on expectations of reduced oil demand after China.
Although several countries in the world, including Brazil, have limited the transport of people to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
Last month, Petrobras executives said they were feeling an impact on their oil sales prices in the first quarter of the year, but that they had not yet identified any effects on demand for their product.
At the time, the executives highlighted that their oil was well received in markets other than China, such as Europe. However and North American, for the good quality of the product extracted in deep waters of the Campos and Santos basins, with low sulfur content.
IRON ORE SHIPMENTS
Iron ore exports from Brazil totaled 12.37 million tons in the month until the third fortnight, against 22.18 million tons in all of March 2019 and 22.1 million tons in February, according to data from the Secex
By the daily average, ore shipments reached 824.5 thousand tons, versus more than 1 million in February and March 2019.
The average price of ore sold by the country in the first half of March amounted to 64.1 dollars per ton. However, up from 63.2 million in all of March 2019 and $68.5 per ton last month.
Vale, one of the main iron ore producers in the world, is currently operating below capacity, as it had to interrupt several activities. In short, for a review of safety standards after the rupture of a dam in Brumadinho, in January 2019.
