Data from China’s Customs Services indicates that goods sold to Portuguese-speaking markets reached $57.6 billion (49.8 billion euros) by August.
This figure represents a 1.4% decline compared to the same period in 2024, when Chinese exports to these countries set a new record at $85.5 billion (73.9 billion euros).
The data, compiled and released on Wednesday by the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macau Forum), reveals that Brazil was the main factor in the decline.
Despite a year-on-year decrease of 5.3%, Brazil remains the largest buyer in the Portuguese-speaking bloc, with Chinese goods reaching $46.9 billion (40.5 billion euros).
Second on the list is Portugal, moving in the opposite direction, with imports from China increasing 8% to $4.52 billion (3.91 billion euros).
Angola also purchased products from China worth $3.4 billion (2.94 billion euros) by August, a year-on-year increase of nearly two-thirds (64.4%).
Conversely, exports from Portuguese-speaking countries to China fell 11.3% to $86.6 billion (74.9 billion euros) in the first eight months.
According to official data, this is the lowest value for the period from January to August since 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decrease was mainly due to Brazil—by far the largest Portuguese-speaking supplier to the Chinese market—whose sales fell 10.9% to $72.6 billion (62.8 billion euros).
Furthermore, China’s second-largest commercial partner in the Portuguese-speaking bloc, Angola, saw exports decline 13.1% to $10.5 billion (9.04 billion euros).
Portugal’s merchandise sales to China decreased 6.9% to $1.94 billion (1.68 billion euros).
Additionally, seven out of nine Portuguese-speaking countries saw their exports to the Chinese market decrease.
Mozambique’s sales to the Chinese market fell 5.2% to $1.1 billion (946.5 million euros), while Equatorial Guinea’s exports shrank nearly half (44.6%) to $464.9 million (401.8 million euros).
Cape Verde’s shipments decreased 87.5%, despite the country selling only around two thousand dollars (approximately 1730 euros) in goods, while Timor-Leste’s exports contracted 72.2% to $139,000 (119,000 euros).
The only exception was São Tomé and Príncipe, whose sales grew ninefold to $44,000 (38,000 euros).
Meanwhile, Guinea-Bissau did not export any goods to China in the first eight months of 2025, similar to the same period last year.
China continues to record a trade deficit with the Portuguese-speaking bloc, reaching $29 billion (25 billion euros) in the first eight months of 2025.
Overall, trade exchanges between Portuguese-speaking countries and China reached $144.3 billion (124.7 billion euros), a decrease of 7.6% compared to the same period last year.
