Brazil's imports of plastic products totaled US$2.02bn in January-October 2008, up 34% year-on-year, weighing in at 406,000t, the national association of plastic industries Abiplast said in a statement.
Exports increased 18.5% to US$1.18bn in January-October, corresponding to 288,000t.
Brazil's trade deficit for plastic products was US$839mn in the first 10 months of the year.
According to Abiplast president Merheg Cachum, plastic exports could be helped by a stronger dollar, but the domestic industry has not seen the improvement due to the global economical slowdown. "The crisis has weakened demand in general," the executive told BNamericas.
Brazilian demand has also weakened. "The first three quarters were very good but recently weaker demand, especially in the automotive and electronics industries, of which we are huge suppliers, has directly impacted the plastics sector," Cachum said.
The Mercosur customs union imported the most plastic products from Brazil in January-October, accounting for 34% of the total, followed by the Latin American group of integration or Aladi (25%) and the European Union (12%).
In October alone, exports of plastic products were down 6.3% compared to September, totaling US$122mn. Imports in October summed US$238mn, down 0.4% on the previous month, Abiplast figures show.
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