Trade between lusophone countries and China reached US$191.2 billion between January and October, 6 percent more than in the same period of 2023 and a new maximum for the first ten months of the year.
However, exports to China by Portuguese-speaking countries fell by 0.3 percent in the first ten months of 2024, with a 23 percent decrease in October. That’s according to official figures cited by the Portuguese news agency Lusa.
In the first nine months of the year, exports recorded their highest value since records began in 2013. The scenario reversed in October, when exports fell to US$10.2 billion – down 23 percent compared to the same period in 2023 – according to data from China’s Customs Service. The total value of exports stood at US$119.3 billion between January and October.
The drop was mainly due to a decline in exports from Angola – the second largest lusophone supplier in the Chinese market – whose sales fell 4.8 percent to US$14.8 billion.
At the same time, China’s largest trading partner in the lusophone bloc, Brazil, saw its exports grow 0.3 percent, to US$99.6 billion – a new maximum for the first ten months of the year.
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Sales of goods from Portugal to China increased 8.6 percent to US$2.58 billion, while exports from Mozambique rose 11.9 percent to US$1.46 billion.
Exports from Equatorial Guinea to the Chinese market fell 17.1 percent, to US$887.2 million, while sales from Timor-Leste (down 98.7 percent), Cape Verde (minus 81.2 percent) and São Tomé and Príncipe (minus 91.2 percent) all fell compared to the period between January and October 2023.
Meanwhile, Portuguese-speaking countries imported goods worth US$71.9 billion from China, an annual increase of 18.3 percent and a new record for the first ten months of the year.
Brazil was the biggest buyer in the Portuguese-speaking bloc, with imports reaching US$60.8 billion, followed by Portugal, which bought goods worth US$5.12 billion from China.
China recorded a trade deficit of US$47.4 billion with Portuguese-speaking countries in the period between January and October this year.
