Brazil registered a trade deficit of US$518 million in January, the first since 2001, the country's Development, Industry and Trade Ministry announced on Monday.

The figure was a sharp fall from the US$2.3 billion surplus last December and 922 million dollar surplus in January 2008.

An average trade deficit of US$24.7 million per business day was registered in January, down 123.6 percent from last December and 158.9 percent from January 2008.

This is the first time Brazil registered a trade deficit since March 2001 when the deficit reached 274 million dollars.

The country's export volume reached US$9.79 billion, with an average of US$466.1 million per business day, down 25.8 percent from last December and 22.8 percent from January 2008.

Import volume totaled US$10.31 billion in the period, with an average of US$490.8 million per business day, down 6.3 percent from last December and 12.6 percent from the same month last year.

The results indicate that Brazil may face difficulties in fulfilling the target of a US$14 billion trade surplus for 2009, the ministry said.

If the international market situation continues to worsen, Brazilian exports may fall up to 20 percent this year, it warned.

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2009)