BRASILIA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's trade balance registered a surplus of 7.4 billion U.S. dollars in March, a record for the month since the beginning of kept records in 1989, the Foreign Trade Secretariat of the Ministry of Economy said Friday.

The figure represents an increase of 19.3 percent over the surplus balance of 6.5 billion U.S. dollars in March of last year.

As a result, Brazil accumulated a trade surplus of 11.3 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of the year.

Exports in March totaled 29.1 billion U.S. dollars, while imports stood at 21.7 billion U.S. dollars.

The result of external sales was a record for all months, favored by the increase in the price of raw materials.

In addition, exports increased by 25 percent and imports by 27.1 percent, compared to March 2021.

With the increase in the prices of foreign trade products, the government raised the estimated trade surplus for 2022 from 79.4 billion U.S. dollars to 111.6 billion U.S. dollars, which would be a record if realized.