Chile’s exports grow more to Asia than to North America

Redacción Opportimes 29 marzo, 2021

The share of Chile’s exports to Asia as a percentage of total exports increased from 54.9% in 2019 to 57.8% in 2020.

Meanwhile, the proportion of exports from Chile to North America decreased from 17.0 to 16.2%, comparing the same years, according to data from the Chilean government.

The main destinations for Chile’s exports in 2020 were China (which received 38.2% of total exports), the United States (13.4%), Japan (8.6%), South Korea (5.7%) and Brazil (4.3 percent) .

In the year ended December 31, 2020, merchandise exports totaled $ 71.7 billion.

Chile’s economy and exports

In 2020, Chile’s real GDP contracted 5.8% compared to the same period in 2019 as a result of the measures implemented to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in the manufacturing and services sectors, which reduced the demand for imports.

During 2020, aggregate domestic demand decreased 9.1%, gross fixed capital formation contracted 11.5%, total consumption decreased 6.8% and Chile’s exports fell 1.0%, while imports decreased 12.7%, in each case in terms real compared to 2019.

Regarding Chile’s imports in 2020, these originated mainly in China (28.0% of total imports), the United States (17.7%), Brazil (7.3%), Argentina (5.4%), Germany (4.0%) and Mexico (2.8% of total imports).

In 2020, merchandise imports totaled $ 54.9 billion.

Intermediate goods, such as oil and other fossil fuels, accounted for 57.4% of total imports in 2020 compared to 49.6% in 2019.

Consumer goods imports accounted for 31.2% of total imports in 2020 compared to 28.8% in 2019.

Meanwhile, imports of capital goods comprised 24.9% of total imports for that period compared to 21.6% in 2019.

Chile’s exports

In 2020, the primary sector of the Chilean economy increased 0.3%, the manufacturing sector decreased 3.5%, and the services sector decreased 7.1%, in each case, in real terms.

While the primary sector remained stable, the decline in the manufacturing sector was mainly driven by lower prices in the textiles, apparel and leather subsectors, and the non-metallic mineral products and base metal products subsectors, and the decline in the services sector, it was mainly driven by lower activity in the transport and personal services subsectors.

The direct contribution of the primary sector of the Chilean economy to nominal GDP was 16.3% in 2020, compared to 12.7% in 2019, mainly due to the contraction of the manufacturing and services sectors of the Chilean economy.

Agriculture, livestock and forestry

In 2020, the agricultural and forestry sector decreased 4.2% in real terms, compared to the same period in 2019, and represented 3.4% of nominal GDP for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to 3.0% of nominal GDP during the same period in 2019.

Mining

In 2020, the mining sector accounted for 12.5% of nominal GDP, compared to 9.1% of nominal GDP during the same period in 2019.

By 2020, mining products represented 56.8% of Chile’s total exports, totaling approximately $ 41.8 billion compared to $ 35.3 billion for the same period in 2019.