Chile’s Trade Dip in 2023

Chile’s global trade reached $152.47 billion from January to October this year, marking a 10.2% decline compared to the same period last year.

The Undersecretary for International Economic Relations (Subrei) released these figures on Friday.

Subrei’s report showed that Chile’s total exports were $80.908 billion in this period. This amount is slightly less, by 0.4%, than the same period in 2022.

Imports, on the other hand, fell significantly. They totaled $71.562 billion, marking a 19% decline.

This decrease affected different types of goods: intermediate, consumer, and capital.

Despite this, the report had some positive news. Exports of Chile’s “non-traditional” goods reached $37.230 billion. This is a 3.57% increase compared to last year.

The report highlighted growth in specific exports. These include lithium hydroxide, molybdenum oxides, and lithium sulfates.

Other growing exports were gold, silver, pork, fresh grapes, iodine, tires, vegetable seeds, fresh kiwis, cardboard, and various fruits.

Claudia Sanhueza, the deputy head of Subrei, commented on these findings. She said, “Even with global challenges, our non-traditional exports are doing well.”

The food and service sectors are showing strong, consistent growth. She pointed out that some exports have doubled their figures from last year.

These include hazelnuts, fresh mandarins, tomato purées, extra virgin olive oil, turnip seeds, cookies, fresh peonies, sweet corn, and fresh limes.

Asia emerged as the top market for these non-traditional Chilean exports. Shipments to Asia were worth $11.488 billion. This represents 30.3% of Chile’s non-traditional export total.

The agency noted that Chile’s non-traditional exports reached 193 destinations. Most of these are in countries with which Chile has trade agreements.