Portuguese-speaking exports to China increased by 2,6% in the first nine months of 2024, maintaining the best start to a year ever, according to official data.
Exports reached US$109,1 billion (€100,3 billion), the highest figure for the period between January and September since the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macau Forum) began presenting this type of data from China's Customs Service in 2013.
Data released on Friday showed the rise was mainly due to the largest Portuguese-speaking supplier to the Chinese market, Brazil, whose sales grew 2,8% to $91,2 billion (€83,8 billion), a new high for the first nine months of the year.
Angola's sales of goods to China rose 2,2% to $13,5 billion (€12,4 billion), while exports from Portugal rose 8,9% to $2,33 billion (€2,14 billion).
Mozambique also exported more to China, with Mozambican sales rising 6,1% to US$1,26 billion (EUR 1,16 billion).
On the contrary, Equatorial Guinea's exports to the Chinese market fell by 16,8%, to 885,2 million dollars (813,6 million euros), while sales from Timor-Leste (minus 99%), Cape Verde (minus 82,4%) and São Tomé and Príncipe (minus 91,1%) also fell compared to the period between January and September 2023.
Guinea-Bissau's exports to China remained unchanged in the first nine months of 2024, although the country did not sell more than $919 (around €XNUMX) worth of goods.
In the opposite direction, Portuguese-speaking countries imported goods worth 65,1 billion dollars (59,8 billion euros) from China, an annual increase of 17,9% and a new record for the first nine months of the year.
Brazil was China's largest trading partner in the Portuguese-speaking bloc, with imports reaching US$55,1 billion (€50,6 billion), followed by Portugal, which bought goods from China worth US$4,64 billion (€4,27 billion).
In total, trade between Portuguese-speaking countries and China reached 174,2 billion dollars (160,1 billion euros) between January and September, 7,8% more than in the same period in 2023 and a new high for the first nine months of the year.
China recorded a trade deficit of 44,1 billion dollars (40,5 billion euros) with the Portuguese-speaking bloc in the period between January and September this year.
In April, Forum Macau held its sixth ministerial conference, during which the organization's new action plan until 2027 was approved, focusing on new areas of cooperation, such as the digital economy and the blue economy.
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