The first 11 months of 2024 saw Chinese exports to lusophone countries increase by 17.4 percent compared to the same period the previous year, setting a new record, reports the Portuguese news agency Lusa.
According to data from the Chinese Customs Service, the US$78.7 billion total represents the highest export figure for China in the January to November period since Forum Macao began publishing such data in 2013. This growth was driven by China’s biggest trading partner within the bloc, Brazil, which purchased US$66.5 million in Chinese goods, up 23.5 percent year-on-year.
Portugal came in a distant second at US$5.54 billion, an increase of 3.6 percent over the same period in 2023.
[See more: Sino-Lusophone trade reaches US$191.2 billion for the first 10 months of 2024]
Chinese imports of lusophone goods, however, took a small dip in the January to November period, dropping 2.3 percent compared to the same period in 2023, to US$129.9 billion. Brazil again proved to be the driving factor, with imports from the South American nation decreasing by 2.2 percent to US$108.3 billion. China also purchased less from its second-largest partner in the bloc, Angola, which saw its exports to China drop 4.5 percent to 16.2 billion in the first 11 months of 2024.
Many of the smaller Portuguese-speaking countries also saw their sales to China decrease in the January to November, including Equatorial Guinea (-13.8 percent), São Tomé and Príncipe (-70.7 percent), Cabo Verde (-81.9 percent) and Timor-Leste (-99.1 percent). Only two Portuguese-speaking countries recorded a growth in sales to China – Portugal (11.2 percent and Mozambique (6.6 percent) – while Guinea-Bissau’s figures remained unchanged.
Despite the shifts, China still recorded a trade deficit of US$51.2 billion with the lusophone countries in the first 11 months of 2024. Total trade for the period reached US$208.6 billion, a 4.3-percent increase over the same period the year prior.
