MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
As Argentine economy picks up, imports soar and trade surplus is down
Central Bank’s reserves stand at another record level Argentina's trade surplus narrowed by 19% in June from the same month a year ago, falling short of market expectations as brisk economic growth fuelled demand for imports, according to official data released last week.
The government said the surplus narrowed to 1.29 billion USD, down from 1.59 billion in June 2009, when the impact of the global economic slowdown sapped demand for imported goods. The median outlook of a poll of seven analysts was for a surplus of 1.53 billion, a decline of 4%.
Argentina’s national statistics agency INDEC said exports rose 22% while imports surged by 40%, driven by increased demand for fertilizer, iron-ore and car parts.
Analysts have said the rebound in factory activity and consumer demand is lifting imports. In May, the trade surplus slimmed 25% to 1.91 billion USD.
“Imports are starting to recover as the economy is peaking and, therefore, it is starting to cut into the trade surplus, but imports are still regaining levels seen previous to the global crisis” a research group said in a briefing note.
In the first half of the year the trade surplus totalled 7.49 billion USD, down from the 10.1 billion USD posted in the same period last year.
In related news President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced another Central Bank record of international reserves, and confirmed her administration’s policy of cutting government debt.
“Today we have 51.008 billion US dollars in reserves and we broke another one of our own records. It fills us with pride. We are going to be able to pay the Boden 12, which will not be swapped but paid for, because the plan is to continue to get out of debt. This is a good path”.
International reserves of the Argentine Central Bank (BCRA) broke a new record as they reached 51.008 billion, after increasing 22 million regarding last Friday, when it had reached 50.986 billion.
The Argentine government ruled out the possibility of swapping Boden 2012 bonds -which expire in August-, in order to obtain financial oxygen, and it assured that it is to pay 2.3 billion when due, with BCRA reserves.
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Read all commentsThank you India :)
Jul 28th, 2010 - 03:36 am 0too bad we couldn't get China on board, but with soy demand going through the roof maybe next year we can lock in better prices, who knows they can always change their minds, this would be a bad sign since the cattle industry in both Barazil and Argentina are losing ground to the soy fields, We have to wait and see what happens to the Brazil's soy king fiasco.
“While the investigation focused on activities in the state of Mato Grosso, which is located in the southern Amazon and is one of the most deforested regions largely due to clearing land for expanding soya farms, it touched numerous others, including São Paulo, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Espirito Santo, Minas Gerais and Distrito Federal.”
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0708-neme_operation_jurupari.html
in any case I am sure none of this will affect the contractual agreement with China and the soy inport from Brazil, or will it ?
Some pearls of this article in apparition order:
Jul 28th, 2010 - 05:05 am 0brisk economic growth........
Exports rose 22% while imports surged by 40%, driven by increased demand for fertilizer, iron-ore and car parts.........
Imports are starting to recover as the economy is peaking.......
Cristina Kirchner announced another Central Bank record of reserves, and confirmed her administration’s policy of cutting government debt.........
International reserves of the Argentine Central Bank reached 51.008 billion.....
Let's see. Imports, for which you have to pay, go up. Exports, for which you get paid, go down. Really sound economics, South American-style!
Jul 28th, 2010 - 01:24 pm 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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