Lusophone exports to China recorded their best start to the year ever, reaching 97.6 billion dollars (90.3 billion euros), it was announced today.
This is the highest figure for the period between January and August since the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Forum Macau) began presenting this type of data from the China Customs Service in 2013.
Exports rose 4.9 per cent year-on-year, mainly due to the largest Portuguese-speaking supplier to the Chinese market, Brazil, whose sales grew 5.2 per cent to 81.5 billion dollars (75.4 billion euros), a new high for the first eight months of the year.
Angola’s sales of goods to China rose 1.8 per cent to 12 billion dollars (11.1 billion euros), while Portugal’s exports rose 11.4 per cent to 2.09 billion dollars (1.93 billion euros).
The figures released today show that most Portuguese-speaking countries exported more to China, including Mozambique, whose sales rose 25.5 per cent to 1.16 billion dollars (1.07 billion euros).
In contrast, Equatorial Guinea’s exports to the Chinese market fell by 8 per cent to 838.5 million dollars (776.1 million euros), while sales from East Timor (down 99 per cent), Cape Verde (down 82.2 per cent) and São Tomé and Príncipe (down 91.5 per cent) also fell compared to the period between January and August 2023.
Curiously, Guinea-Bissau’s exports to China remained unchanged in the first eight months of 2024, although the country did not sell more than a thousand dollars (around 926 euros) worth of goods.
In the opposite direction, Portuguese-speaking countries imported goods worth 58.5 billion dollars (54.1 billion euros) from China, an annual increase of 19.7 per cent and a new record for the first eight months of the year.
Brazil was China’s biggest trading partner in the Portuguese-speaking bloc, with imports totalling 49.5 billion dollars (45.8 billion euros), followed by Portugal, which bought goods worth 4.19 billion dollars (3.88 billion euros) from China.
In all, trade between Portuguese-speaking countries and China totalled 156.1 billion dollars (144.5 billion euros) between January and August, 10% more than in the same period in 2023 and a new high for the first eight months of the year.
China recorded a trade deficit of 39.1 billion dollars (36.2 billion euros) with the Portuguese-speaking bloc between January and August this year.
In April, Forum Macau held its sixth ministerial conference, during which the organisation’s new action plan until 2027 was approved, focusing on new areas of cooperation, such as the digital economy and the blue economy.
Lusa
