This is the highest value since the Permanent Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Forum Macau) began presenting this type of data from the Chinese Customs Service in 2013.
Exports increased by 6.2 percent compared to 2022, mainly due to the Chinese market's largest Portuguese-speaking supplier, Brazil, whose sales rose 11.9 percent, to 122.4 billion dollars, a new historic high.
On the contrary, Angola's exports fell 18.7 percent to 18.9 billion dollars, and sales of goods from Portugal to China fell 4.1 percent to 2.91 billion dollars.
Most Portuguese-speaking countries exported less to the Chinese market, including Equatorial Guinea (9.4 percent less), Timor-Leste (48.7 percent less), São Tomé and Príncipe (53.8 percent less) and Guinea-Bissau (40.2 percent less).
In addition to Brazil, only Mozambique and Cape Verde managed to sell more to China.
Mozambican exports increased by 33.9 percent to 1.79 billion dollars, also a new record high, while Cape Verdean sales more than tripled, although only to a value of 72,000 dollars.
In the opposite direction, Portuguese-speaking countries imported goods worth 73.4 billion dollars from China, 3.5 percent less than in 2022.
Brazil was China's largest trading partner in the Portuguese-speaking bloc, with imports reaching 59.1 billion dollars, followed by Portugal, which purchased goods worth 5.79 billion dollars from China.
In total, trade between Portuguese-speaking countries and China reached 220.9 billion dollars in 2023, 2.8 percent more than in the previous year.
China recorded a trade deficit of 74.1 billion dollars with the Portuguese-speaking bloc last year, also a new historical record.
