In April 2023, Uruguay registered a 23% year-over-year decrease in export applications, including free zones, compared to the same month of the previous year, which totaled US$ 859 million. Soybeans and beef were the products with the highest negative incidence, which explained a large part of the monthly drop. Cellulose, rice and dairy products had a positive impact in the fourth month of the year.
Uruguay’s exports of goods have been showing falls since October 2022, but this month there was a more pronounced fall, which had not been seen since April 2020. This is mainly explained by lower soybean exports, which were the ones with the greatest negative impact this month. The drop in the exported value of soybeans explained 15% of the export performance in April 2023.
The lower soybean harvest as a result of the water deficit in Uruguay has been the main cause of the decrease in external soybean sales, which have been declining since October 2022, but this month had the greatest negative impact. The reduction in volume was 63%, while prices also decreased by 10%.
8% decline in exports in the first quarter of 2023
Beef exports also had a negative impact on exports in April, evidencing a drop of 46% year-on-year. The lower demand from the Chinese market continues to explain this trend. Other products that had a negative impact on exports for the month were wood, live cattle and vehicles, which registered falls of 37%, 80% and 17% respectively.
On the other hand, in April 2023 the positive incidences registered by the exports of cellulose, dairy and rice. Cellulose exports reached a total of US$ 172 million in April, which represented an increase of 26% compared to the same month of the previous year. Pulp represented 12% of the total exported in 2021. It is also important to consider that the new UPM plant began production in mid-April. Once the three pulp mills are exporting, this is expected to be Uruguay’s main export product.
External placements of dairy products totaled $70 million, increasing 29% in year-on-year terms. Milk exports to the Brazilian market stood out, going from almost $2 million in April 2022 to $38 million in April 2023. On the contrary, milk exports to Algeria decreased by 64% in the same comparison.
In the fourth month of 2023, Uruguay exported rice for US$50 million88% more than in April 2022. This notable dynamism was mainly due to external sales to Iraq (US$12 million) and Panama (US$7 million), destinations to which no rice was exported in April 2022 .
There was also a noticeable drop in exports in the first four months of this year: according to the aforementioned body, they contracted by 8%, which is mainly explained by the decrease in beef exports -which had reached record levels last year – and due to the drop in soybean sales, which have begun to forcefully show the impact of the historic drought.
