Trade between Brazil and Argentina has halved over the past decade

Welcome to “Number of the Week,” where we choose a single figure that helps understand what is going on in Brazil. This week, we discuss how trade between Brazil and Argentina has plummeted.

$16.4bn

Brazil-Argentina trade in 2020

A delegation from the Argentinian embassy this week met with Brazilian businessmen at the São Paulo Federation of Industries (Fiesp) to discuss economic relations between the two countries. At the meeting, it was noted that bilateral trade between the South American giants had grown 44 percent in October, compared to the same month last year. 

But that increase says more about how depressed 2020 was than about any dynamism in relations between the two largest countries in South America. In fact, bilateral trade between the two countries plummeted to just USD 16.4 billion in 2020 — or half the level it was at ten years prior.

Worries. It was not...