Chilean foreign trade registered a decrease of 14.1% between January and July 2020, after totaling transactions for US$68,662 million, reported the National Customs Service of Chile.
Also, exports from Chile decreased by 10% compared to the first seven months of 2019, reaching almost US$39,644 million.
Meanwhile, imports reached US$31,227 million, falling 18.1% compared to the period between January and July of last year.
Regarding the results for the month of July, exports reached nearly US$5,534 million, 11.5% less than the same month in 2019.
As for imports, the figures for July reflect a 15.7% drop compared to 2019, with purchases reaching US$4,850.3 million.
“The development of the Foreign trade continues to be marked by the impact of the pandemic worldwide, slowing down the entire logistics chain during 2020,” Customs said in a statement.
In this regard, the Undersecretary of Finance, Francisco Moreno, emphasized that “We will continue to promote, together with the National Customs Service, measures that contribute to foreign trade from the perspective of trade facilitation.. Foreign trade must be one of the pillars of economic recovery during the second half of this year.”
Meanwhile, National Director of Customs, José Ignacio Palma, added that "we continue to develop our best efforts to ensure the logistics chain of foreign trade, reinforcing all contingency measures and evaluating daily the behavior of exports and imports to take the actions that are necessary to facilitate foreign trade. It is important to remember that Our employees continue to work shifts 7 days a week at the main checkpoints that remain open throughout Chile, such as sea and land ports, border crossings and the Santiago International Airport, among others.”
It should be remembered that since February, the National Customs Service, together with the Undersecretariat of Finance and other public agencies, has taken a series of contingency measures to facilitate foreign trade, ensuring that sea, land and air ports continue to operate for the export and import of cargo, with special attention to the import of basic goods for citizens and critical medical supplies to combat Covid-19.
In addition, in all regions of Chile, Customs is constantly monitoring and analyzing the operation of foreign trade, facilitating processes and coordinating with all actors in the logistics chain through the Comex Tables, the municipalities, the regional ministerial secretariats of the economic area and business associations, among others.
Exports
Between January and July 2020 China remained the main buyer, reaching a share of 35,8% of the country's total exports, followed by the United States (14,3%) and Japan (9,0%), that is, 59,1% of total sales at the national level were made to these three destination countries.
Shipments to China increased by 10,1% in terms of volume, while in terms of cargo the amount exported grew by 39,3%.
Regarding shipments by product, mining sector exports accounted for 52,5% of the country's total sales, with 20.797 billion dollars and a decrease of 3,6% compared to the same period of the previous year. Within the basket of these products, shipments of copper minerals and concentrates stood out, which had a share of 46,3% of total sales in this sector, and registered a drop of 9,9% compared to the same period in 2019.
Copper was second in mineral shipments with 41,5%, showing a positive variation of 0,7%, a figure equivalent to an increase in exports of 58 million dollars. It is also important to mention the 92,8% increase exhibited by iron ores and their concentrates.
Non-mining sector sales totaled 18.847 billion dollars, a decrease of 16,2% compared to the same period in 2019. Regarding the variations observed in these products, the most notable decreases were those recorded by grapes (-22,7%), cherries (-7,3%), salmon and trout (-11,6%), cellulose (-27,8%) and wood and its manufactures (-12,4%).
While fishmeal (53,6%), molluscs (30,0%) and the Other Foods group were on the rise, where the positive variation of 10,0% was mainly caused by the growth of 42,7% and 48,8% in shipments of pork and beef, respectively.
Imports
China positioned itself as the main seller with a share of 26,2% of total imports, followed by the United States (19,6%) and Brazil (7,4%). Imports of products from China to the country fell by 5,2%.
The United States was the country of origin with the largest share (22,8%) of the total quantity of merchandise acquired by the country, showing an increase of 3,7%, a figure equivalent to the import of 286.711 more tons.
Fuel imports accounted for 14,1% of the country's total purchases, at US$4.409 billion, a decrease of 32,5% compared to the same period in 2019.
Within the basket of fuel products, the decrease observed in purchases of Diesel oil (-24,8%), Crude oil (-50,2%), Liquefied natural gas (-23,1%) and Coal (-16,0%) stood out.
Imports of non-fuel products totaled 26.818 billion dollars, with a decrease of 15,1% compared to the period from January to July 2019.
The most notable increases were in the acquisition of electric generators (82,3%) and corn for consumption (22,0%); as well as decreases in imports of vehicles for the transport of people (-50,4%), televisions (-39,6%), clothing and accessories (-34,1%), footwear (-30,1%), and cell phones (-13,7%).
tax collection
The taxes collected by Customs during January and July 2020 totaled 6.870 million. The main one was the Value Added Tax (IVA), with 5.801 billion dollars, registering a participation level of 84,4%.
El specific tax on diesel oil, was ranked second, with an 8,8% share in Customs collection, and showed an increase of 42,0% compared to the same period in 2019. In third place, with a 3,4% share, the Advalorem right ttotaled 237 million dollars received between January and July 2020.
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