The year before, trade had fallen 25.73%, the first drop since 2009.

The Chinese customs service figures published by Forum Macau show China imported goods from Portuguese-speaking countries worth $61.28 billion (€57.54 billion) – 1.64% less and sold goods worth $29.59 billion (€27.78 billion), 18.19% less than in 2015.

Brazil remain the main trading partner with bilateral trade of $67.56 billion (€63.43 billion) in 2016, 5.91% down on the 2015 figure, followed by Angola, where trade fell 20.94%, to $15.57 billion (€14.61 billion).

On the other hand, Portugal, China’s third partner in the group saw trade increase to $5.61 billion (€5.26 billion) – up 28.54% –, in a trade balance that favoured Beijing, which exported $4.03 billion in goods to Portugal (€3.78 billion) – up 39.30% – and imported goods worth $1.58 billion (€1.48 billion), up 7.36%.