Trade between Brazil and China continued to grow sharply in the January-to-June period, according to a survey released by the Secretariat for Foreign Trade (Secex) under the Brazilian Ministry of Economy. According to statistics, In the first half of this year, Brazil's exports to China increased by 37.7% and its imports by 25.9%. It is estimated that trade between Brazil and China will exceed $120 billion in 2021, up from $102.5 billion in 2020, marking another important milestone in the history of trade between the two countries.

Comexdobrasil reported on July 22 that According to Secex data, Brazil's exports to major global trading partners in the first half of this year totaled $46.747 billion. China accounted for about 34.4% of Brazil's total exports, compared with 32.4% in 2020. In terms of imports, Brazil's imports from China accounted for 21.7 percent of total imports in the first half, down slightly from last year's figure (21.9 percent).

Despite the growth of exports to China, Brazil still has a high concentration of basic products in bilateral trade and low added value of exports. According to statistics, exports of soybean, iron ore and crude oil alone account for 83% of the total products exported to China.

In the first half of this year, Brazil's soybean exports to China reached 17.13 billion US dollars, accounting for 37% of its total exports to China. Iron ore was second at $13.3bn, or 29 per cent of total exports to China. Then came crude oil, at $7.9 billion, or 17 percent.

Other major Brazilian exports to China include beef ($1.97 billion, or 4.2%) and cellulose ($1.35 billion, or 2.9%).