Sao Paolo, Brazil-based Brazilian Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association, or Anfavea said Thursday that Brazilian car exports are continuing to recover this year despite the strength of the Brazilian currency, but imports are still gaining ground amid the rapid strengthening of the Brazil real.
Anfavea increased its prediction from its previous estimate of 620,000 to 750,000 exports this year, including assembled and unassembled vehicles. Car exports saw a 76 percent year-on-year increase in the first three quarters of this year, reaching 569,524.
"Economies overseas are recovering and they are absorbing more unassembled vehicles from Brazil," Anfavea President Cledorvino Bellini said at a news conference.
The export explosion is radically different from when sales plunged due to the global economic crisis back in 2009.
While imports are steadily rising, exports have declined as a percentage of overall sales. Exports now account for about 15 percent of production down about 50 percent from in 2005, while imports have risen to 18 percent from 5 percent over the same period.
Production outweighed sales in September of this year, with sales reaching 307,057 vehicles, down 0.5 percent from a year ago, and production still up 12.7 percent over the same period.