The confidence of business people in Brazil’s trade sector is at its lowest level since March 2011, the country’s news agency Brasil reported on Monday.

According to a survey by Brazil’s National Confederation of Trade, Services and Tourism (CNC), the Trade Businessmen Confidence Index fell in July to 85 points, on a scale from 0 to 200. The higher the number, the greater the confidence in the business outlook.

July’s result was the lowest level since the index was launched in March 2011. The index fell in July by 21.6 percent compared to the same period last year and 1.7 percent judged month-on-month.

According to CNC, the fall in confidence was affected by factors including perceptions of the current situation of the Brazilian economy.

Official data from the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade – also announced on Monday– nonetheless showed Brazil had a trade surplus of US$2.4 billion in July.

The accumulated trade surplus in the first seven months of the year was US$4.6 billion, which is the best result for that calendar period since 2012.

According to the Brasil news agency, the value both of exports and imports fell year-on-year in July. Brazilian exports fell in July 19.5 percent year-on-year to US$18.5 billion, while the country’s imports in July totalled US$16.1 billion, down 24.8 percent from a year earlier.

The director of the Ministry’s Bureau of Statistics and Support to Exports, Herlon Brandão, said – as quoted by Brasil – that although the value of Brazilian exports fell, their volume increased in July by 3.2 percent year-on-year. Mr Brandão blamed the worldwide decrease in the price of commodities for the fall in revenues obtained from Brazil’s exports.