Guyana Says Trade With China Reached US$1.8 Billion as Exports Hit a Record
Key Facts
Guyana’s oil wealth has turned it into a prize for both China and the United States. Its government now says exports to China reached a record level in 2025.
Prime Minister Mark Phillips said two-way trade with China reached about US$1.8 billion in 2025. He spoke on Thursday, 17 September, at a Georgetown reception for the 77th anniversary of the People’s Republic.
Why This Matters
Guyana, a small South American state of the Caribbean Community, has become a major oil exporter in recent years. Oil made up 88.4 percent of its US$20.14 billion in total exports, the Jamaica Observer reported.
The country has only about 800,000 people, according to the US State Department’s 2025 investment climate report. The same report said Guyana’s economy grew 43.6 percent in 2024, one of the fastest rates in the world.
China’s state-owned oil company CNOOC holds a 25 percent stake in the Stabroek Block, Guyana’s main offshore field. ExxonMobil operates the block with 45 percent, and Chevron holds 30 percent after buying Hess on 18 July 2025, Rigzone reported.
At the same time, the United States is deepening its own role in Guyana’s oil sector. That leaves Guyana in the unusual position of hosting American and Chinese state interests in the same oilfield.
What the Figures Show
Guyana’s exports to China rose to US$501 million in 2025, which Phillips called the strongest performance to date. Imports from China came to about US$1.287 billion, Bureau of Statistics data show, leaving a large deficit.
China ranks as Guyana’s eighth-largest export market and third-largest source of imports, according to the Jamaica Observer. The newspaper said Chinese goods made up 12.6 percent of everything Guyana imported last year.
Ambassador Yang Yang said Chinese investment in Guyana reached about US$13 billion by the end of 2025. She gave a different trade figure, putting 2025 bilateral trade at US$2.89 billion, the Guyana Chronicle reported.
She said 2025 trade was more than double the 2024 level, while the reports do not explain the gap. “Guyana and China have become partners in each other’s economic progress,” Yang said, according to HGPTV.
HGPTV listed the new Demerara River bridge and the Aurora solar farm among Chinese-backed projects. The bridge cost about US$260 million and the solar farm US$100 million, according to the same report.
The solar farm is expected to cut diesel use by about 18 million litres a year, the Guyana Chronicle reported. HGPTV also cited a US$3 million donation of power-generation equipment by Bosai Minerals Group, a Chinese bauxite miner.
Where the Oil Money Comes From
Guyana’s first oil flowed in 2019, and output rose about tenfold between 2020 and 2025, the US Energy Information Administration said. The agency estimated that production averaged 750,000 barrels a day in 2025 and passed 900,000 in November.
It expects the Uaru project to add about 250,000 barrels a day after its start-up in 2026. That would push Guyana’s output past one million barrels a day by 2027, according to the same forecast.
The Stabroek partners have discovered more than 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent in recoverable resources, Rigzone reported. The EIA also noted that Guyana is increasingly exporting crude to Asian markets.
The published trade reports do not say whether crude oil forms part of Guyana’s record exports to China. CNOOC’s share of Stabroek oil gives Beijing a stake in Guyana’s output that goes beyond direct trade statistics.
A Relationship Older Than Oil
“Trade has become an increasingly crucial pillar of the partnership that exists between Guyana and China,” Phillips said, Kaieteur News reported. The first Chinese immigrants reached Guyana in 1853, and diplomatic relations turned 54 this year.
Guyana supported restoring China’s seat at the United Nations in 1971, a year before formal relations began. On 27 July 2018, Guyana signed a memorandum joining China’s Belt and Road infrastructure programme, the government’s information agency reported.
Then foreign minister Carl Greenidge said the plan offered a chance to look beyond “the traditional metropolis” to the east. China’s ambassador at the time, Cui Jianchun, called Guyana the first English-speaking country in South America to sign.
Kaieteur News said China Railway Construction Corporation International built the Demerara River bridge. The newspaper also listed a programme of six regional hospitals and a new Guyana-China Friendship Park.
Chinese medical teams have worked in Guyana for 33 years and treated 1.31 million patients, the Guyana Chronicle reported. The same report said the teams had performed more than 70,000 surgeries and trained nine Guyanese doctors in Jiangsu this year.
Washington’s Counterweight
The United States treats Guyana as a security partner, largely because of Venezuela‘s claim to the Essequibo region. Essequibo covers about two-thirds of Guyana’s land, and the old dispute revived after ExxonMobil’s 2015 oil discovery, Courthouse News reported.
On 27 March 2025, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Georgetown and signed a security agreement with Guyana. The deal expanded intelligence sharing and military cooperation between the two countries, according to the same report.
“It would be a very bad day for the Venezuelan regime if they were to attack Guyana,” Rubio said. His visit came weeks after an armed Venezuelan naval vessel passed near oil storage vessels in disputed waters.
The same report noted that China’s CNOOC is a partner in the very oilfields Washington pledged to help protect. The prime minister did not describe China as an alternative to the United States in the published reports.
What It Means If You Do Business in Guyana
For investors, the figures confirm that Chinese firms are embedded in Guyana’s infrastructure, energy and mining sectors. They also show a trade deficit with China of nearly US$800 million, based on the government’s own numbers.
Exporters in agriculture and fisheries may find openings, since Phillips named both as priority areas for cooperation. The published reports do not mention any new trade agreement signed at the reception.
Anyone relying on the data should note that Georgetown and Beijing publish very different totals for the same year. Official data put two-way merchandise trade at an estimated US$1.79 billion, the Jamaica Observer reported.
What Is Not Yet Known
The published reports do not say which goods make up Guyana’s exports to China. Neither side has explained why the Guyanese and Chinese totals differ by more than US$1 billion.
It is also unclear which statistics the ambassador used for her US$2.89 billion figure. Phillips gave no timetable for the cooperation projects he named in urban development, fisheries and renewable energy.
The reports do not give the financing terms for the Chinese-funded bridge and solar farm. Nor do they say whether Guyana plans talks with Beijing on narrowing its trade deficit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Guyana’s trade with China matter?
Guyana is one of the world’s fastest-growing oil producers, and both China and the United States have large stakes there. The trade figures show how far Chinese ties have grown.
How much trade does Guyana do with China?
Guyana’s government puts two-way trade at about US$1.8 billion in 2025. China’s ambassador cited US$2.89 billion for the same year.
Does Guyana export more to China than it imports?
No. Exports reached a record US$501 million, while imports from China came to about US$1.287 billion.
Does China own part of Guyana’s oil?
China’s state-owned CNOOC holds 25 percent of the Stabroek Block. ExxonMobil operates it with 45 percent, and Chevron holds 30 percent.
Sources: Kaieteur News, exports to China hit record US$501 million, Jamaica Observer, Guyana trade with China exceeded US$1 billion, Guyana Chronicle, Phillips and Ambassador Yang Yang, HGPTV, US$1.8 billion in two-way trade, US State Department, 2025 Investment Climate Statement on Guyana, Rigzone, ExxonMobil accepts Chevron as Stabroek partner, US EIA, Brazil, Guyana and Argentina drive crude growth, Department of Public Information, Guyana signs Belt and Road memorandum, Courthouse News/AP, Rubio vows stern response if Venezuela attacks Guyana
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