Ms Tatiana Prazeres, the interim minister of development, industry and foreign trade said that the 5.3% decrease in Brazilian exports in 2012 occurred primarily due to declines in international commodity prices, a shrinking European market and increased trade barriers abroad.
According to the ministry, the Brazilian trade balance recorded a USD 19.4 billion surplus in 2012, based on exports of USD 243 billion and imports of USD 223 billion, the country's worst trade balance in the last 10 years.
Brazil's 2012 result was down 34.76%, or USD 10 billion lower than in the previous year, when the trade surplus totaled USD 29.8 billion.
According to Ms Prazeres, if iron ore prices had remained at the same level as in 2011, exports would have been higher by USD 10.3 billion, bringing the country's decline in exports to just 1.2% in 2012.
In August and September, physical iron ore prices delivered to China slipped to USD 86.70 per tonne, the lowest value since October 2009, amid a slowdown in the Asian country's steel demand.
However, China's 62% Fe reference index for iron ore rebounded to USD 144.90 per tonne on December 31st, up 5% from the day before and turning December 2012 into the strongest month for the commodity's prices since April 2009.
Ms Prazeres said that the international crisis has also increased trade barriers in other markets, negatively affecting the sale of Brazilian products.
In 2011, Brazil posted record exports of USD 256 billion, up 27% over 2010. The country also recorded USD 226 billion in imports in 2011, a 24.5% increase when compared to the year before.
She said that during the 2009 international crisis, exports were down 22.7% over 2008. In this second stage of the international crisis we have seen a decrease of only 5.3% over 2011 levels, which was an all time record. Exports this year clearly had a good performance. We are performing at a very high level.
She added that "In terms of exports and imports, we are maintaining a very high level of trade, which peaked in 2011."
