Chinese exports to Portuguese-speaking countries increased by 0.9% in the first ten months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to official data released Monday (1).
According to information from China Customs, goods sold to Lusophone markets reached $72.6 billion by October.
This represents a 0.9% increase compared to the same period in 2024, a year in which Chinese exports to these countries set a new record of $85.5 billion.
Data compiled and released by the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries (Macau Forum) show that Angola was the main driver of the increase.
Chinese goods sold to Angola reached $4.04 billion (€3.48 billion) by October, a year-on-year rise of more than half (51.1%).
Despite a 2.9% year-on-year decline, Brazil remains the largest buyer in the Lusophone bloc, importing $59 billion worth of products from China.
In second place—moving in the opposite direction—is Portugal, whose imports from China increased 14.8% to $5.88 billion (€5.07 billion).
Conversely, exports from Portuguese-speaking countries to China fell 5.9%, reaching $112.2 billion in the first ten months.
According to official data, this is the lowest figure for the January–October period since 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decline was mainly due to Brazil—the largest Lusophone supplier to the Chinese market—whose sales dropped 4.7% to $94.9 billion.
Additionally, Angola, China’s second-largest trading partner in the Lusophone bloc, saw its exports fall 12.8% to $12.9 billion.
Portugal’s exports to China decreased 7.6% compared to the first ten months of 2024, totaling $2.39 billion (€2.06 billion).
In fact, six of the nine Portuguese-speaking countries reduced their exports to China.
Mozambique’s exports to China fell 8% to $1.35 billion (€1.16 billion), while Equatorial Guinea’s exports shrank 28.5% to $634.3 million.
Cape Verde’s shipments dropped 37.1%, with the country selling only about $8,000 worth of goods to China between January and October.
Timor-Leste stood out positively, with exports to China skyrocketing from just $632,000 to $26.8 million in one year.
Exports from São Tomé and Príncipe also grew ninefold, reaching $51,000, while Guinea-Bissau’s exports increased from zero to $8,000.
China continues to record a trade deficit with the Lusophone bloc, which reached $39.6 billion in the first ten months of 2025.
In total, trade between Chinese and Portuguese-speaking countries reached $184.8 billion, down 3.4% from the same period last year.
Source: Lusa
