Trade between Chile and China grows by almost 40% in 2021 on the back of a sharp rise in imports

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Customs analysis reveals that shipments to the Asian giant increased by 31% compared to 2020, driven by mining products. Chinese goods arriving in the country totaled US$25.562 billion and exports almost US$10 billion more.

The fact that Covid-19 marked practically the entire agenda for the second consecutive year did not prevent China from continuing to consolidate its position as Chile’s leading trading partner. Bilateral exchange reached US$57.724 billion in 2021, which accounts for a 39.8% growth compared to 2020, according to the National Customs Service.

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José Ignacio Palma, national director of Customs, affirms that the increase of almost 40% of the exchange with the “Eastern power” in a new year of global pandemic “accounts for the uninterrupted work in our air and maritime borders and the effectiveness of the facilitation measures adopted to give continuity to the operations”.

This increase came hand in hand with solid growth in imports: last year, Chinese products purchased by Chile totaled US$25.562 billion, representing an increase of 68%. China is positioned as the most significant national supplier, with 29.2% of the total share.

Purchases of non-fuel products – 99% of what arrived from the Asian giant – recorded an increase of 68.9% between January and December compared to the same period in 2020, with means of transport and their parts giving a big boost.

The category was up 189% from 2020, highlighting the 463.4% jump in automobiles for transporting goods and 307.4% in tractors, in an item in which all products had increases of more than 100%.

Technology was another of last year’s strong points: it recorded a 60.6% increase compared to 2020. Televisions, computers and their parts, and game consoles and video game machines led the way, with increases of 122.2%, 74.4%, and 57.4%, respectively.

The purchase of Chinese clothing, accessories, and footwear rose 40.8% in 2021: the variation for apparel and accessories was 37.5%, and for shoes, 70.8%. Machinery imports from the Asian giant improved by 36.3% due to acquiring mechanical shovels, excavators, loaders, and shovel loaders, which increased 323.5%. Among foodstuffs -whose imports increased by 26%- the jump of 103.7% in cereals and 41.4% in fruits and fruits stand out.

MINING AS THE DRIVING FORCE

Exports to the Asian giant reached US$35.422.6 billion last year, an increase of 31% over the previous year. With this jump, China remained the leading buyer of Chilean products, with a 38.4% share of the total.

Mining was, once again, the main driver of national shipments: it represented 84.4% of the country’s exports to China, showing an improvement of 39% compared to the previous year. The increase in copper ores and concentrates, with a 62.9% increase, and the increase in copper shipments, with a positive variation of 3%, stood out.

Among non-mining products, which accounted for 15.6% of shipments to China, the outlook was not so positive, as exports suffered a 0.4% decrease compared to 2020.

More than a third of these sales were of forestry products and their derivatives, whose shipments grew by 21% compared to the previous year. While pulp shipments increased by 25.5%, wood, paper, and cardboard suffered negative annual variations of 0.7% and 7.3%, respectively.

Fruit and fruit exports, equivalent to another third of the non-mining sector, fell 2.9% from January to December, mainly due to a 2.9% decline in cherries compared to 2020. Grapes, blueberries, apples, kiwis, walnuts, mandarins, and clementines also had negative variations, but plums, avocados, lemons, peaches, and apricots increased compared to the previous year.

Other foodstuffs also saw their exports fall last year: pork, poultry, and beef decreased their shipments to China by 25.7%, 20.5%, and 17.3%, respectively, between January and December.

Seafood products had a decline of 12.2% in 2021 compared to the previous year. Fishmeal showed a decrease of 30.9%, salmon and trout fell by 23.4%, and canned fish and shellfish fell by 63.3%, among other contractions.

On the other hand, the wine sector had a positive variation of 41.1%, thanks to the increase in wine exports, which rose by 44.2%, and the 28.5% increase in grape must. Shipments of sparkling wine, on the other hand, fell by 28.1%.

With information from Diario Financiero