LATAM Airlines Group has made a loss of $138 million in the second quarter of 2017, and cargo revenue dipped by 1.3 per cent.

The losses increased from $92 million during the same period of 2016, and were put down to a decrease of $120 million in the non-operating result due to foreign exchange losses.

The group made a net loss of $72.5 million in the first half of 2017 compared to a profit of $10.1 million in 2016.

Cargo revenue was down 1.3 per cent to $256.5 million in the second quarter decreased 4.8 per cent to $510 million in the first half.

Imports from North America and Europe to Brazil improved driven by major imports of electronics and spare parts as a result of more stable market conditions as well as the appreciation of the Brazilian Real.

There was a slowdown in the export market, driven by the decline in asparagus exports from Peru, while flower and fresh salmon exports remained stable.

Revenue tonne kilometres were up 0.3 per cent to 799 million during the quarter, though down 3.7 per cent to 1.6 billion during the first half.

Second quarter tonnage decreased 4.3 per cent to 214,000 tonnes and by 6.8 per cent to 427,000 tonnes in the first half.

Load factors increased by 5.1 percentage points to 53.9 per cent in the second quarter and by 3.3 percentage points to 53.4 per cent in the first half.