RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil’s oil exports so far in March have already surpassed the volumes shipped in the entire same month a year earlier.
This is despite fears of a reduction in demand due to impacts related to the new coronavirus, official government data indicated on Monday.
Foreign sales of the commodity totaled 4.83 million tons up to the third week of the month, compared to 4.49 million tons in the whole of March last year, reported the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex).
Oil export
The volume already shipped also represents more than two-thirds of the exports made 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 compared to a year earlier.
The average price of oil exported by Brazil in the first half of March totaled 356.3 dollars per ton, a drop of 12.8% compared to the entire month of March 2019. Compared to the entire month of February, the average price fell 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 around the world, including Brazil, have limited the transportation of people to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
Last month, Petrobras executives reported that they were feeling an impact on the sale prices of their oil in the first quarter of the year, but that they had not yet identified any effects on demand for their product.
On the occasion, the executives highlighted the good reception for their oil in markets other than China, such as Europe and North America, due to the good quality of the product extracted in deep waters of the Campos and Santos basins, with low sulfur content.
IRON ORE SHIPMENTS
Brazil's iron ore exports totaled 12.37 million tons in the month to date up to the third fortnight, compared to 22.18 million tons in the whole of March 2019 and 22.1 million tons in February, according to data from Secex.
On a daily average, ore shipments reached 824.5 thousand tons, compared to more than 1 million in February and March 2019.
The average price of iron ore sold by the country in the first half of March was US$64.1 per ton. However, this compares with US$63.2 million in the entire month of March 2019 and US$68.5 per ton last month.
Vale, one of the world's leading iron ore producers, is currently operating below capacity as it has had to halt several activities, mainly to review safety standards following the collapse of a dam in Brumadinho in January 2019.