Brazil's copper product manufacturers enjoyed a 40 percent increase in export revenues in the first five months of 2007 compared with the same period in 2006, copper processors' associations Sindicel and ABC reported. Export revenues in the January-May period reached $231.6 million, which was $12.9 million above import values, the associations announced Friday.
The products exported are mainly wires and cables and semi-finished goods. Wires and cables export revenue amounted to $178.5 million compared with $169.7 million worth of imports in the five-month period, said Sindicel, which groups together 58 processing companies of both Brazilian and international origin, representing 90 percent of Brazil's copper processing sector.
Semi-finished product exports were meanwhile worth $53.1 million, compared with $49 million worth of imports. A main factor in the higher export revenues has been firm copper prices on the international market in the early part of this year, Sindicel indicated.
Sindicel president Sergio Aredes added that the strengthening of the real is nonetheless starting to threaten further growth in the sector's copper export sales. "We are losing the only competitive advantage we have on the world market," he said in a statement.
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