Chinese trade with Mozambique returns to growth in 2017

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Chinese trade with Mozambique returns to growth in 2017

7:42 CAT | 17 Jul 2017

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Trade between China and Portuguese-speaking countries grew by 41.51 per cent between January and May this year (compared with the first five months of 2016) in a remarkable turnaround after two years of contraction.

According to figures produced by the Chinese customs service, last year trade with the eight Portuguese-speaking countries shrank by 7.72 per cent, whilst in 2015 the contraction was an enormous 25.73 per cent.

Mozambique’s two-way trade figures with China have also shown a recovery. In the first five months of the year, imports and exports totalled 748 million US dollars, which represents a growth of 6.4 per cent compared with the same period in 2016. Whilst imports from China fell 1.35 per cent to 517 million dollars, exports grew by 29.11 per cent to 231 million dollars.

This makes Mozambique the fourth largest Lusophone trading partner with China – behind Brazil, Angola, and Portugal.

In 2016, trade between Mozambique and China collapsed by 22.29 per cent. Imports fell by 28.19 per cent to 1.379 billion dollars whilst exports to China still managed to increase by 6.17 per cent to 479 million dollars.

On Thursday, China published better than expected trade figures for June. Its worldwide exports rose by 11.3 per cent compared with a year ago, whilst imports grew by 17.2 per cent. Analysts point to a recovery in the global economy driving the demand for Chinese goods, whilst investment in infrastructure has been behind the growth in imports.