Previously, the highest amount had occurred in 2014: US$ 3.3 billion. The Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce, and Services (MDIC) provides data up to 1997. Analysts consulted by BBC News Brazil list the effects of the covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine War as explanations for record high prices of oil and other products and the reapproximation of Brazil and Saudi Arabia during the Jair Bolsonaro administration from 2019 to 2022. After a sudden fall in the first year of the pandemic (2020), imports from Saudi Arabia grew again around 2021 to USD 2.9 billion. From 2021 to 2022, the imported value rose by 84%. These are nominal values, that is, with no inflation information included. No less than 60% of the value of imports in 2022 corresponded to crude oil and bituminous minerals, 16% to organic and chemical fertilizers, and 14% to petroleum fuel oils and bituminous minerals. The rest of the percentages is composed of intermediary by-products. From 2021 to 2022, the imported value of crude oils and bituminous minerals purchased from the Saudis rose 132%, from US$1.38 billion to US$3.2 billion.
Source: Época Negócios