Exports by Portuguese-speaking countries to China are off to a banner start, with a record US$58.4 billion in the first five months of 2024.
It is the highest value for the January to May period since records began at Forum Macao, the Sino-Lusophone trade organisation, in 2013. Imports of Chinese goods by lusophone nations also saw a new record high, increasing 16.1 percent year-on-year to US$34 billion.
These gains led total trade between China and Portuguese-speaking countries to also break records for the period, up 12.9 percent to US$94.2 billion for the first five months of the year.
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Brazil, by far the largest PSC with over 200 million people, led export growth with a record US$48.8 billion in sales to China, up 12.8 percent from the previous year. Rounding out the top five were Angola with US$7.16 billion (+4.7 percent), Portugal with US$1.24 billion (+10.7 percent), Mozambique with US$641.6 million (+19.6 percent) and relative newcomer Equatorial Guinea, which dipped to US$517.3 million (-6.9 percent).
Timor-Leste (-37.2 percent) and São Tomé and Príncipe (-89 percent) saw more significant decreases in exports to China in the first five months of the year. Cabo Verde (+21.1 percent) and Guinea-Bissau (+1173.3 percent) recorded increases.
Brazil also led the group in importing Chinese goods, increasing 26.3 percent to US$28.5 billion, a new record for the period. Even with this boost, China still imported far more than it exported, recording a trade deficit with the lusophone nations of US$24.3 billion in the first five months of 2024.
