Mozambique: Exports to China up by 25.5% year-on-year in August

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Exports to China up by 25.5% year-on-year in August

1:56 CAT | 28 Oct 2024

File photo: Macauhub

Exports from Portuguese-speaking countries to China have seen their best start to the year ever, reaching US$97.6 billion , it was announced on Thursday.

This is the highest figure for the period between January and August since the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macau Forum) began publishing this type of data from the Chinese Customs Service in 2013.

Exports increased by 4.9% year-on-year, mainly due to the largest Portuguese-speaking supplier to the Chinese market, Brazil, whose sales grew by 5.2% to US$81.5 billion, a new high for the first eight months of the year.

Angola’s sales of goods to China increased by 1.8% to US$12 billion (€11.1 billion), while exports from Portugal rose by 11.4% to US$2.09 billion.

The data released last week shows that most Portuguese-speaking countries exported more to China. This includes Mozambique, whose exports to China rose by 25.5% to US$1.16 billion.

By contrast, Equatorial Guinea’s exports to the Chinese market fell by 8% to US$838.5 million), while sales from Timor-Leste (down 99%), Cape Verde (down 82.2%) and São Tomé and Príncipe (down 91.5%) also fell compared to the period between January and August 2023.

Interestingly, Guinea-Bissau’s exports to China remained unchanged in the first eight months of 2024, although the country did not sell more than US$1,000 (around €926) worth of goods.

In the opposite direction, Portuguese-speaking countries imported goods worth US$58.5 billion (€54.1 billion) from China, an annual increase of 19.7% and a new record for the first eight months of the year.

Brazil was China’s largest trading partner in the Portuguese-speaking bloc, with imports reaching US$49.5 billion, followed by Portugal, which bought goods from China worth US$4.19 billion.

In total, trade between Portuguese-speaking countries and China reached US$156.1 billion between January and August, 10% more than in the same period in 2023 and a new high for the first eight months of the year.

China recorded a trade deficit of US$39.1 billion with the Portuguese-speaking bloc in the period between January and August this year.

In April, Forum Macau held its sixth ministerial conference, during which the organisation’s new action plan until 2027 was approved, focusing on new areas of cooperation, such as the digital economy and the blue economy.

Source: Lusa