Exports from Portuguese-speaking countries to China fell 12.6% in the first seven months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, it was announced yesterday.
According to information from China Customs, between January and July the Lusophone bloc sold goods worth $72.4 billion to the Chinese market.
According to data consulted by the Lusa news agency, compiled by the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries (Macau Forum), this is the lowest value for the first seven months of a year since 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decline was mainly due to Brazil – by far the largest Lusophone supplier to the Chinese market – whose sales fell 12.4%, to $60.6 billion.
In addition, Angola, the second-largest Chinese trading partner in the Lusophone bloc, saw exports decline 16.8%, to $8.66 billion.
Exports of goods from Portugal to China decreased 3.7%, to $1.69 billion. Six of the nine Portuguese-speaking countries saw their exports to the Chinese market decline.
Exports from Equatorial Guinea to China fell almost one-third (31.1%), to $464.3 million, while Timor-Leste’s exports shrank by more than half (58.2%), to $139,000. Shipments from Cape Verde dropped 84.3%, although the country had only sold about $1,000 in goods.
The biggest exception was Mozambique, whose sales rose 15.7% to $982.5 million, while exports from São Tomé and Príncipe grew eightfold, to $41,000.
Guinea-Bissau did not export any goods to China in the first seven months of 2025, as it had not done in the same period last year.
On the other hand, Chinese exports to Portuguese-speaking countries had the best start to the year ever, increasing 1.1%, to $49.9 billion.
This is the highest value for the first seven months of a year since the Macau Forum began reporting these figures in 2013.
The data shows that Brazil remains the largest buyer within the Lusophone bloc, despite imports from China falling 2.9% compared to the same period in 2024, to $40.4 billion.
In contrast, Portugal, ranked second, purchased goods from China worth $3.93 billion between January and July, an increase of 9%.
Despite selling more and buying less, China still records a trade deficit with the Lusophone bloc, which reached $22.5 billion in the first seven months of 2025.
In total, trade between Portuguese-speaking countries and China reached $122.3 billion, 7.5% less than in the same period last year.
Source: Líder Magazine
