Chinese exports to Portuguese-speaking countries increased by 17.4 per cent in the first 11 months of 2024, compared to the same period last year, and reached a new record, official figures show. The previous annual record of 73.4 billion dollars (70.9 billion euros) was set in 2023.
According to data from the China Customs Service, goods sold to Portuguese-speaking markets up to November totalled 78.7 billion dollars (76 billion euros).
This is the highest figure since the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Forum Macau) began presenting this data in 2013.
The previous annual record of 73.4 billion dollars (70.9 billion euros) was set in 2023.
The figures released on Thursday show that Brazil was the biggest buyer in the Portuguese-speaking bloc, with imports from China reaching 66.5 billion dollars (64.2 billion euros), a rise of 23.5 per cent year-on-year.
Second on the list is Portugal, which bought goods worth 5.54 billion dollars (5.35 billion euros) from China, 3.6 per cent more than in the first 11 months of 2023.
In the opposite direction, Portuguese-speaking exports to China fell by 2.3 per cent in the year to November, to 129.9 billion dollars (125.5 billion euros).
The data shows that the drop was mainly due to the largest Lusophone supplier to the Chinese market, Brazil, whose sales fell 2.2 per cent to 108.3 billion dollars (104.6 billion euros).
In addition, China’s second largest trading partner in the Lusophone bloc, Angola, saw exports fall by 4.5 per cent to 16.2 billion dollars (15.6 billion euros) in the first 11 months of 2024.
In contrast, Portugal’s sales of goods to China rose 11.2 per cent to 2.88 billion dollars (2.78 billion euros), while Mozambique’s exports rose 6.6 per cent to 1.62 billion dollars (1.56 billion euros).
Meanwhile, exports from Equatorial Guinea to the Chinese market fell 13.8 per cent to 972.9 million dollars (939.7 million euros), while sales from East Timor (down 99.1 per cent), Cape Verde (down 81.9 per cent) and São Tomé and Príncipe (down 70.7 per cent) also fell compared to the period between January and November 2023.
Guinea-Bissau’s exports to China remained unchanged in the first 11 months of 2024, although the country did not sell more than a thousand dollars (around 966 euros) worth of goods.
Despite the new record for Chinese exports and the drop on the Portuguese-speaking side, China recorded a trade deficit of 51.2 billion dollars (49.5 billion euros) with the Lusophone bloc in the period between January and November.
In all, trade between Portuguese-speaking countries and China totalled 208.6 billion dollars (201.6 billion euros) between January and November, 4.3% more than in the same period in 2023.
