Agriculture sector exports reach record $5 billion in January

Farm sector exports in Janaury reached a record $5.1 billion, an increase of 26.3% over Janaury 2010, and according to the Ministry of Agriculture, the biggest January since 1989, when records began. The agriculture sector also had a $3.9 billion trade surplus last month, an increase of $800 million over January 2010.

The Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade reports that total Brazilian exports in January were $15,215 billion. In other words, farm sector exports accounted for 33.8% of all exports in January 2011.

Leading farm exports were soy, coffee, meats, cereals and ground grains, along with fruit juices and forest products. There has been a sharp rise in the prices of these goods (commodities). For example, soy is up 89.3% in price and 67.7% in volume, with January soy exports (oil, grains and ground grain) worth $598.6 million.

Coffee was up 23.9% in volume and 65.9% in price, with January exports worth $595.4 million. Meats were up 19.7% in price and 9.3% in volume (chicken did  best: up 50.2% in price and 27.8% in volume).

Cumulative farm exports over the last 12 month ending in January reached $77.5 billion, a record, an increase of 19.8%, compared to 2010, when exports during the same period were $64.7 billion.