And 2021 comes to an end with a sense of mission accomplished! We faced many challenges, learned many lessons and achieved many achievements . As each year comes to an end, we feel like time is passing by faster and faster, so how about we remember the main events that marked 2021 in Foreign Trade? Enjoy your reading!
Vaccine development and the importance of international logistics main events
The biggest expectation phone number list of the year was the arrival of vaccines to combat Covid-19 so that the pandemic that broke out in 2020 could finally end. At that moment, the importance of international logistics to ensure the arrival of the vaccine around the world and also of the necessary inputs for its manufacture in Brazil became clear to everyone. Most of these inputs came from China and India.
International freight, container shortages and logistical bottlenecks
The imbalance between determining normal internet speed supply and demand caused by changes in consumer habits and production gaps in factories around the world has created logistical bottlenecks never seen before. This imbalance in global economies has created challenges not only for Brazil, but for the entire world. There has been a large increase in the price of international freight, a shortage of equipment ( containers ) and congestion at the world’s main ports.
Foreign Trade and International Logistics companies began to look at their operations with different eyes, seeking to find strategies that would overcome current challenges.
Suez Canal Blockage
The Suez Canal is the main aero leads route connecting Asia to Europe, and knowing the commercial participation of these continents in international trade, one can understand the importance of this route. In March, the entire world stopped to watch as the Ever Given, a ship belonging to the Evergreen shipping company, ran aground in the Suez Canal after a terrible storm, resulting in a queue of 422 ships and a loss to global trade of approximately US$9.6 billion per day of blockage.
The shipowners had two options, to go around the route, adding almost a month to the trip, or to wait for the Canal to be unblocked without knowing for how long.
Trade Balance main events
The Brazilian trade balance has recorded record surpluses (more exports than imports) in several months, driven especially by agribusiness. With the increase in exports, imports have also increased. To illustrate this relationship, it is enough to analyze that the increase in international demand for Brazilian commodities causes the import of fertilizers to grow considerably.
Brazil’s main trading partner continues to be China, which, as of November, accounted for 30.2% of exports and 21.6% of imports. In second place is the United States, accounting for 10.9% of exports and 17% of imports. And in third place is Argentina, accounting for 4.2% of exports and 5.4% of imports.