MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguay closes 2021 with sizeable trade surplus

But in addition to traditional products, other new items were added to the list of exports

The year 2021 closed for Paraguay with a trade surplus of US $ 941 million, according to the Advance Foreign Trade Report (RCE) for December 2021, published by the Undersecretary of State for the Economy (SSEE) of the Finance Ministry.

The document showed exports totaled US $ 13,979 million, 21.6% higher than in December of 2020. The recovery of exports was mainly driven by bovine meat products (41%) and oilseeds (37%).

Meanwhile, imports reached US $ 13,038 million, 29.9% above the previous year, essentially due to the higher demand for chemicals, rubber and plastics (35%) and machinery and equipment (42.5%).

The main positive effects of registered exports came from bovine meat, with an increase of 39.3%, and soybeans with a variation of 38.6%. While the item with the greatest negative impact was electricity with a decrease of 6.6%, reflecting the situation of the water courses.

But in addition to traditional products, other new items were added to the list of exports, such as jello and its byproducts bound for the United States woth US $ 8.5 million dollars; forged iron bars worth US $ 4.8 million dollars sold mainly to Argentina; and aluminum sheets and strips placed in Chile's market for a value of US $ 2.1 million.

Pork shipments totaled US $ 8.5 million dollars, of which 87.1% were destined for Georgia, Uruguay and Brazil.

Exports of spark plug wire sets reached a value of US $ 231 million, a 129.8% increase compared to 2020, 99% of which was destined for the Brazil, Argentina and the United States.

Of the 143 destinations for Paraguayan exports during 2021, the main ones were Brazil (33.7% of total shipments), Argentina (26.1%), Chile (9.4%), Russia (6.7%) and the United States (2%).