LatinNews Daily - 03 October 2023

* Brazil’s ministry of industry & commerce has released the figures for the country’s trade balance in September, showing a monthly surplus of US$8.9bn. Imports totalled US$19.5bn and exports came to US$28.4bn. This latest figure brings the accumulated trade surplus in the first nine months of 2023 to US$71.3bn. The government has also updated its forecast for the 2023 trade balance, expecting to close the year with a trade surplus of US$93bn. The average daily export value in September for agricultural products saw an increase of US$59.41m (+22.2%) compared to the same month last year and extractive industries saw a yearly increase of US$47.67m (+14.9%). The manufacturing sector, however, saw a yearly decrease in daily export value of US$46.87m (-6.1%). In January-September 2023, agriculture was the only sector which saw a rise in average daily export value (+8.3%) compared to the same period in 2022. Extractive industries saw a drop of 1.9% and manufacturing decreased by 2.4% compared to the average daily export values registered in the first nine months of 2022.