Brazil is expecting the United States would in 2010 again become the top destination for the country's exports, a senior government official said on Monday.
But Welber Barral, foreign trade secretary at the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, said he would not expect that the Brazilian exports to the United States this year would return to the 2008 level.
"In 2010, the United States can once again become the top destination for Brazilian exports," he said. "But we do not have the illusion of returning to the 2008 level."
Brazil exported 27.6 billion U.S. dollars worth of merchandise to the United States in 2008.
But the country's exports to the United States dropped 43.1 percent in 2009 when the global economic slowdown bit in. Brazil only sold 15.7 billion dollars worth of goods to the United States in the past year.
It was the first time since the end of World War II that the United States lost its status as top destination for Brazilian exports, though the
Latin American country still bought more from the United States than from any other country in the world.
The United States has been Brazil's largest trading partner, buying one fifth of Brazil's exports and selling it one sixth of the American products.
The foreign trade secretary pinned his hope of increasing U.S. exports on improved economic performance in the United States which needs raw
materials from Brazil.
"The activity of the industry is very closely tied to the performance of the economy as a whole. The growth of Brazilian exports depends heavily on how the United States will emerge from the crisis," said Barral.
The Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade also pinned the hope of improved exports to the United States on an IMF projection that the U.S. economy will grow by 1.5 percent in 2010.
In 2009, China replaced the United States as the top destination of Brazilian exports as the Asian country bought 19.9 billion dollars worth of Brazilian goods, 3.5 billion dollars more than 2008.
The United States and Argentina were behind China as Brazil's second and third largest export destinations for the year.
Brazil's import from the Unites States reached 20.2 billion dollars. Its import from China and Argentina stood at 15.9 billion dollars and 11.3 billion dollars respectively.