Trade between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries in the first quarter of 2025 dropped by double digits compared to the same period last year, according to data shared by Forum Macao.
The 18.6-percent drop in sino-lusophone trade resulted largely from a steep drop in Chinese imports of goods from lusophone nations, down 30.1 percent compared to the first quarter of 2024. China, meanwhile, showed modest improvement, increasing its sales by 2.3 percent to US$19.7 billion. It marks the highest value for the period since the Forum Macao began presenting this data in 2013.
Sino-lusophone trade for the first quarter of 2025 totalled US$44.18 billion, with China recording a trade deficit of US$4.79 billion with the bloc.
China’s gains in exports largely come to Angola, now its second-largest trade partner in the bloc, more than doubling Chinese imports to US$1.58 billion.
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Brazil remains the largest partner despite a 2-percent decline compared to the same period last year, buying US$15.8 billion in Chinese goods. Portugal rounds out the top three at US$1.48 billion in purchases, up a modest 1.3 percent.
Brazil was not the only country to import less from China during the first quarter, with decreases seen from Mozambique (down 13 percent), Equatorial Guinea (a 37.9 decrease) and Guinea-Bissau (down 53.5 percent).
Sales to China, meanwhile, fell across the board with only Mozambique recording an increase, up 18.5 percent to US$484.5 million. Data indicates double-digit drops from Brazil (34.1 percent), Angola (10.6 percent) and Portugal (14.4 percent), China’s three largest trading partners in the bloc, as well as from its smallest partners.
Cabo Verde and Guinea-Bissau recorded zero sales to the Chinese market in the first three months of 2025. While Cabo Verde’s exports vary, this is not an unusual figure for Guinea-Bissau in this period, reflecting the seasonality of its largest export. The growing season for cashews, which account for some 90 percent of Bissau-Guinean exports, runs from March to June.
