According to the Ministério da Indústria, Comércio (Ministry of Industry and Trade of Brazil), called MDIC, the overseas fastener purchase of Brazil during 2017 was recorded at US$ 595.55 million, totaling 112,192 tons and the average price was around US$ 5.30 per KG. The fasteners import represented only 0.47% (in monetary value) among all manufactured products sold to Brazil last year, making it the 45th on general classification.
To be specific about the fastener import in value, China led the sales for Brazil with the share of 17%, totaling US$ 103.31 million (note: MDIC hasn´t had information on tonnage). But we found a divergence involving these data.
Brazil had bought 30,300 tons of fasteners “Made in China” in 2017, the average price was US$ 1.66 per KG and the total value was around US$ 50.330 million.
We are keeping the data from MDIC as official.
Virtually side by side with China, USA had sales of US$ 101.63 million (with the share of 17%, and ranked the 2nd), followed by Japan, reaching US$ 74.33 million (with the share of 12% and ranked the 3rd), Germany, reaching US$ 61.94 million (with the share of 10% and ranked the 4th), Italy, reaching US$ 58.47 million (with the share of 9.8% and ranked the 5th), France, reaching US$ 35.53 million (with the share of 6.0% and ranked the 6th), Taiwan, reaching US$ 30.58 million (with the share of 5.1% and ranked the 7th), South Korea, reaching US$ 25.9 million (with the share of 4.3% and ranked the 8th), Spain, reaching US$ 12,46 million (with the share of 2.1% and ranked the 9th) and Sweden, reaching US$ 10,9 million (with the share of 1.8% and ranked the 10th).
As for fastener export, Brazil sold more than 24,000 tons of fasteners last year, with the revenue around US$114 million. China was not the principal destination to Brazilian fasteners, but the divergence between MDIC and CFM appeared once again. At MDIC, Brazil earned US$ 2.35 million from sales to China. On the other hand, CFM reported that Brazil sold more than US$ 34 million (or 5,600 tons in volume) worth of fasteners to China. If this information from CFM is true, it would put China as the biggest buyer of fasteners “Made in Brazil”.
However, the most important customer for Brazil was Argentina, with US$ 27.51 million sales (with the share of 24% and ranked the 1st). Next came the USA, with US$17.12 million sales (with the share of 15% and ranked the 2nd). The next was Paraguay, with US$ 9.41 million sales (with the share of 8.2% and ranked the 3rd); Germany, with US$8.41 million sales (with the share of 7.3% and ranked the 4th); India, with US$6.22 million sales (with the share of 5.4% and ranked the 5th); France, with US$5.9 million sales (with the share of 5.2% and ranked the 6th); Mexico, with US$4.97 million sales, (with the share of 4.3% and ranked the 7th); Uruguay, with the US$ 4.31 million sales (with the share of 3.8% and ranked the 8th); Chile, with US$3.78 million sales (with the share of 3.3% and ranked the 9th) and Bolivia, with US$3.13 million sales (with the share of 2.7% and ranked the 10th).
Though fasteners are one of the “global commodity champion,” the share of fasteners in Brazil export is very modest. It was ranked the 104th place among other manuf
actured products in MDIC’s ranking and only represented 0.47% of the total export.
Brazilian Automotive Production (Including Motorcycles)
Grows More Than 18% in 2017
Just with cars, the growth in January 2018 was 24.6% more than the same month in 2017.
After 2017, the economy in Brazil, for general relief, is finally entering an expansion cycle, with an industrial growth of 2.5%, higher than the record in 2013. However, the change needed on “Social Security System Rules” still represents a serious threat for national stability, but, Brazil isn’t the only country around the world with retirement problems.
Around 70% of economy in Brazil is from domestic consumption and its commodities export is strong worldwide. But about manufactured products the Brazilian presence is representative just into South America. This author has been very optimistic in last 3 years, but the things walked more slowly than I was thinking. But now, the situation is clearer, and the reference that we use here, as ever, is the industrial automotive.
Last year we predicted a growth in production of buses and trucks that was below expected. However, the production of automotive vehicles together (motorcycles, passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, trucks and buses) meant more than 3.58 million units, an increase of 18.03% compared to 2016 (3.03 million units). According to the Brazilian automakers association, Anfavea, the production of motor vehicles was 2,485,980 units, 25.2% more than the record of 2,156,360 units in 2016. By other side, the motorcycle association industry (Abraciclo) reported 887,653 units in 2017, a very shy increase of 0.50% compared to the record of 882,876 units in 2016. For this year, Abraciclo predicts a growth of 15%, while the projection from Anfavea orbits around 13%.
In a press release, Anfavea reported that the export was a record, with 762 thousand units sold, 46.5% more than 2016 (520.1 thousand units). The better export result, until so, was 724 thousand units in 2005.
January 2018 closed with 216,834 units of cars produced, while January 2017 had 174,713 units, an increase of 24.6%.
By Sergio Milatias - Editor
Revista do Parafuso (The Fastener Brazil Magazine)
milatias@revistadoparafuso.com.br
