Chile’s trade balance recorded a surplus of US$1.999 billion last February, a result that coincides with a weak performance of copper exports, the Central Bank reported on Tuesday.
In total, the South American country exported US$8,339 million last month, an increase of 14.2% compared to shipments in the same month of 2022.
According to the issuing entity, the value of copper exports – of which Chile is the leading global exporter – dropped 4.2% to US$3.449 billion.
Meanwhile, imports reached US$6.34 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 14.8%.
With China as the main trading partner, shipments abroad from the agricultural sector added entries of more than US$1,001 million.
With an average annual production of 6 million tons, Chile accounts for 28% of world copper production and giants such as Codelco, BHP, Anglo American and Antofagasta Minerals operate in the country.
Mining, which represents 15% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and is the main engine of the Chilean economy, is playing a fundamental role in the country’s economic recovery.
The Chilean economy grew a historic 11.7% in 2021, after the sharp drop in 2020 due to the pandemic, but inflation skyrocketed and in 2022 growth began to slow down.
Economic aid provided by the Chilean government to alleviate the impact of the crisis, as well as early withdrawals from pension funds, boosted consumption considerably, to which are added the effects of the war in Ukraine, according to experts.
Chile closed 2022 with rising inflation of 12.8%, the highest in the last 30 years.
Pending official consolidated data, year-on-year growth is expected between 2% and 2.4%.