BEIJING: The trade in merchandise between China and Portuguese-speaking countries reached USD14.845 billion (around MOP118.5 billion) in the period from January 2017 to February 2017, official data from China Customs authorities revealed. The figure represented a 32.64 percent increase year-on-year. According to the data, which was republished in the Forum Macau website, the Portuguese-speaking countries sold goods worth USD10.283 billion (around MOP 106.5 billion) to China in the first two months of 2017. This trade represents an even bigger hike, a 43.74 percent year-on-year, while the value of China’s merchandise exports to those countries reached USD4.562 billion (or around MOP36.8 billion) in the same period, growing by 12.97 percent year-on-year.
Brazil continues to be China’s strongest partner in trade, being accountable for 69.74 percent of the total value of trading. Brazil is followed by Angola with a share of 23.51 percent. Together, they accounted for 93.25 percent of all trading. Although Brazil has an almost unreachable leading vantage point, Angola registered the larger overall growth in trade with China during the first two months of 2017 (42.40 percent). Some significant drops have also been recorded, such as the export from China to Portugal has dropped by 35.73 percent on the first two months of the year as well as the imports from Guinea-Bissau which recorded a total stop during January and February of 2017. Contributing data for these results was mostly taken from the month of January as February alone registered drops in almost all the sectors.
