Chile reached a trade exchange of 90.226 billion dollars FOB, in the first eight months of 2019, reflecting a decrease of 5,8%, reported this Friday (13.09.2019) the National Customs Service.
El Trade with Asia accounted for 44,4% of Chile's global trade exchange during January-August 2019, registering a negative variation of 4,3%, compared to the same period in 2018. 69,7% of sales to the Asian continent corresponded to products from the mining sector. On the other hand, sales of non-mining products in Asia decreased by 0,7% compared to January-August 2018; within this group, the most exported products were cellulose, salmon and trout, and cherries. These accounted for 86,1% of trade with this continent.
El Chile's trade with the American continent reached 33.555 billion dollars FOB, a figure equivalent to 37,2% of total global trade. The amount of exports with America decreased by 10,1%, as did imports, which recorded a contraction of 6%.
El Trade with Europe, during January-August 2019, reached 14.615 billion dollars FOB, That is, 6,7% less compared to the same period in 2018. Shipments to this continent decreased by 12,4%, while imports showed a negative variation of around 0,2%. 52,6% of trade with Europe was carried out with the following countries: Germany, Spain, France and Italy.
Exports
In the period from January to August 2019, Chilean exports decreased by 7,2% Compared to the same period in 2018, China was the main buyer with a 30,4% share of total exports, followed by the United States (14,4%) and Japan (9,2%); these three countries accounted for 54% of the country's total sales.
The sectors that registered the largest declines in exports over the eight months were fruit growing, livestock, forestry and fishing, forestry (-13,1%) and mining (-9,9%).
Despite this decline, mining exports accounted for 51,2% of Chile's total shipments.
Imports
The country's total imports during January-August 2019 reached 43.879 billion dollars, a figure 3,7% lower to that recorded in the same period in 2018.
17% of imports into the country corresponded to imports from the fuel and lubricants sector, which showed a decrease of around 7,8% compared to the same period in 2018. Within the group of fuel products, with a 4,0% share, purchases of natural gas increased by 1.399,3% compared to the period January-August 2018, our main supplier is Argentina, which implied an increase of 280 million dollars.
Regarding imports of non-fuel products, during this eight-month period, they registered a year-on-year decrease of 2,8%, representing 83% of the total amount of the country's imports.
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