According to information from China’s Customs Services, the Portuguese-speaking bloc exported goods worth 17 billion dollars (15.5 billion euros) to the Chinese market in January and February.
The data, compiled by the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Forum Macao), indicate that the figure is the lowest for the first two months of a year since 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This decline was mainly caused by Brazil, the largest Portuguese-speaking supplier to the Chinese market, whose sales dropped by a third (33.4%) to 13.7 billion dollars (12.5 billion euros).
Additionally, Angola, China’s second-largest trading partner in the Portuguese-speaking bloc, saw exports decrease by 16.4% to 2.37 billion dollars (2.16 billion euros).
Portugal’s merchandise exports to China also fell by 13% to 444.4 million dollars (405.5 million euros).
On the other hand, Mozambique’s exports increased by more than a third (34.4%) to 332.2 million dollars (303.1 million euros).
Meanwhile, Equatorial Guinea’s exports to the Chinese market dropped by 71.2%, to 85.6 million dollars (78.1 million euros), and Timor-Leste’s sales shrank by 98%.
The exports from São Tomé and Príncipe also declined by 53.3%, though the country sold no more than a thousand dollars (approximately 912 euros) worth of goods.
Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau did not sell any goods to China in the first two months of 2025.
Conversely, Chinese exports to Portuguese-speaking countries also fell by 9%, to 12.2 billion dollars (11.1 billion euros).
The data shows that Brazil was the largest buyer within the Portuguese-speaking bloc, with imports from China reaching 10.3 billion dollars (9.42 billion euros), a decline of 7.8% year-on-year.
Portugal followed, purchasing goods worth 932.4 million dollars (850.8 million euros) from China, down 10.5% from the same period in 2024.
China recorded a trade deficit of 4.78 billion dollars (4.36 billion euros) with the Portuguese-speaking bloc in the first two months of 2025.
In total, trade between Portuguese-speaking countries and China reached 29.2 billion dollars (26.6 billion euros), a decrease of 23.1% compared to the same period last year.
Related:
