Chinese exports to Portuguese-speaking countries fell 1.4% in the first eight months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to a report from Lusa on Thursday, October 9.
Data from China’s Customs Services show that goods sold to Lusophone markets totaled $57.6 billion by August, representing a 1.4% decrease compared to the same period in 2024, when Chinese exports to these countries reached a record $85.5 billion.
Figures compiled and released on Wednesday by the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries (Forum Macao) reveal that Brazil was the main reason for the decline.
Despite a year-on-year drop of 5.3%, Brazil remains the largest buyer within the Lusophone bloc, importing $46.9 billion worth of Chinese goods. In contrast, Portugal ranks second, with imports from China rising 8% to $4.52 billion.
Angola imported $3.4 billion worth of goods from China by August, marking 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 in the same period — the lowest figure for January–August since 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decline was mainly driven by Brazil, by far the largest Lusophone supplier to the Chinese market, whose sales fell 10.9% to $72.6 billion.
Additionally, Angola, China’s second-largest trading partner in the Lusophone bloc, saw exports drop 13.1% to $10.5 billion.
Portugal’s exports to China also fell 6.9% to $1.94 billion. Seven of the nine Portuguese-speaking countries recorded declines in their exports to China.
Mozambique’s exports to the Chinese market dropped 5.2% to $1.1 billion, while Equatorial Guinea’s shipments fell by almost half (44.6%) to $464.9 million. Cape Verde’s exports decreased 87.5%, though the country only sold about $2,000 worth of goods, and Timor-Leste’s exports shrank 72.2% to $139,000.
The only exception was São Tomé and Príncipe, whose sales increased ninefold to $44,000. Guinea-Bissau did not export any goods to China in the first eight months of 2025, just as in the same period last year.
China continues to post a trade deficit with the Lusophone bloc, reaching $29 billion in the first eight months of 2025.
Overall, trade between Portuguese-speaking countries and China totaled $144.3 billion, down 7.6% from the same period last year.
Source: Diário Económico
