Merchandise Trade
Intra-Mercosur merchandise trade (excluding Venezuela) grew from US$10 billion at the inception of the trade bloc in 1991, to US$88 billion in 2010; Brazil and Argentina each accounted for 43% of this total. The trade balance within the bloc has historically been tilted toward Brazil, which recorded an intra-Mercosur balance of over US$5 billion in 2010. Trade within Mercosur amounted to only 16% of the four countries' total merchandise trade in 2010, however; trade with the European Union (20%), China (14%), and the United States (11%) was of comparable importance. Exports from the bloc are highly diversified, and include a variety of agricultural, industrial, and energy goods. Merchandise trade with the rest of the world in 2010 resulted in a surplus for Mercosur of nearly US$7 billion; trade in services, however, was in deficit by over US$28 billion. The EU and China maintained a nearly balanced merchandise trade with Mercosur in 2010, while the United States reaped a surplus of over US$14 billion; Mercosur, in turn, earned significant surpluses (over US$4 billion each in 2010) in its trade with Chile and Venezuela. The latter became a full member in 2012.
| Country | Population in 2011 (In thousands) |
GDP (nominal) in 2011 (USD millions) | GDP (nominal) per capita | GDP (PPP) in 2011 (USD millions) | GDP (PPP) per capita | Merchandise exports ($ billions), 2011 |
Merchandise imports ($ billions), 2011 |
Exports to Mercosur (% of each, 2010) |
Imports from Mercosur (% of each, 2010) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 700440900000000000040,900 | 7005447644000000000447,644 | 700410945000000000010,945 | 7005716419000000000716,419 | 700417516000000000017,516 | 700184300000000000084.3 | 700173900000000000073.9 | 700125200000000000025.2 | 700133600000000000033.6 |
| Brazil | 7005194933000000000194,933 | 70062492908000000002,492,908 | 700412789000000000012,789 | 70062294203000000002,294,203 | 700411769000000000011,769 | 7002250800000000000250.8 | 7002219600000000000219.6 | 700111100000000000011.1 | 70008900000000000008.9 |
| Paraguay | 70036530000000000006,530 | 700421236000000000021,236 | 70033252000000000003,252 | 700435346000000000035,346 | 70035413000000000005,413 | 70009800000000000009.8 | 700112100000000000012.1 | 700129000000000000029.0 | 700142000000000000042.0 |
| Uruguay | 70033369000000000003,369 | 700446872000000000046,872 | 700413914000000000013,914 | 700450908000000000050,908 | 700415113000000000015,113 | 70008000000000000008.0 | 700110700999990000010.7 | 700133800999990000033.8 | 700148800000000000048.8 |
| Venezuela | 700429767000000000029,767 | 7005315841000000000315,841 | 700410610000000000010,610 | 7005374111000000000374,111 | 700412568000000000012,568 | 700192600000000000092.6 | 700146400000000000046.4 | 70002400000000000002.4 | 700118000000000000018.0 |
| Total | 7005275499000000000275,499 | 70063324501000000003,324,501 | 700412067000000000012,067 | 70063471027000000003,471,027 | 700412599000000000012,599 | 7002445500000000000445.5 | 7002362700000000000362.7 | 700113200000000000013.2 | 700116800000000000016.8 |
Read more about this topic: Mercosur
Famous quotes containing the word trade:
“I sincerely hope that the incoming Congress will be alive, as it should be, to the importance of our foreign trade and of encouraging it in every way feasible. The possibility of increasing this trade in the Orient, in the Philippines, and in South America is known to everyone who has given the matter attention.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)