Chile’s Trade Surplus Swelled in December as Copper Led a Record Export Year

Key Points

• Chile’s December trade surplus widened to $3.594 billion as exports outpaced imports.
• Copper export revenue hit $5.830 billion in December and helped push 2025 exports to a record $107.004 billion.
• The export boom boosts external cash flow, but Chile still ran a current account deficit in Q3 2025.

Chile closed December with a sharply wider trade surplus, a reminder of how quickly global demand and commodity prices can reshape the country’s external accounts.

The monthly surplus reached $3.594 billion, up from $1.90 billion previously, as exports climbed to $11.286 billion while imports rose to $7.691 billion.

Copper was the anchor. Copper export revenue totaled $5.830 billion in December, rising about 26–27% from a year earlier. Broader trade momentum followed the same pattern: exports were up 18.7% year-on-year in December, while imports increased 6.6%.

That combination naturally expands the surplus, because the country is earning foreign currency faster than it is spending it on goods from abroad. December’s export value was described as the strongest monthly reading since at least 2013.

The month also capped a milestone year. Chile’s full-year 2025 exports reached $107.004 billion, the first time the country crossed the $100 billion mark. Mining exports totaled about $63.253 billion, with copper accounting for roughly $55.188 billion of that figure.

Chile exports diversify balances tested

Outside mining, processed food exports were about $13.61 billion, while fruit exports were around $8.63 billion, underscoring that Chile’s export base is broader than metals, even if copper still sets the rhythm.

Imports also grew in 2025, totaling about $92.662 billion, up roughly 10% from the prior year. That can reflect stronger domestic demand and investment, but it also means Chile’s external balance is not a one-number story.

Even with the trade windfall, the country reported a current account deficit of $4.599 billion in the third quarter of 2025, equal to 5.4% of GDP.

For policymakers, the key test is what happens next. Windfalls can reinforce confidence when they are met with predictable rules and restraint.

They can also evaporate if leaders treat a strong month as permission for open-ended spending, heavier controls, or policy experiments that dull incentives just as the cycle turns. Our reporting has shown that Chile’s record export streak is already colliding with new external risks: the Trump administration’s tariff measures have cast a direct cloud over Chilean copper and agricultural shipments, threatening the very demand that drove the 2025 milestone. Even so, Chile’s trade engine remains structurally broader than a single-commodity story: non-traditional exports set their own record in January 2026, climbing 9.8% to $5.62 billion, and total trade exchange crossed $18 billion for the first time in an opening month, extending a 17-month growth streak that the copper-led December surplus helped cement.

Related coverage: Brazil’s Morning Call | Chile’s Peso Holds Firm Near 895 as Copper Pullback Cools Re This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Chile affairs and Latin American financial news.

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