Exports of goods and services reach record highs

Between January and June 2024, shipments of goods and services grew by 1.4% and 34.6%, respectively. Highlights include increases in exports of mining, fresh fruit, cellulose, wine and organic products, as well as foreign sales of hosting services for websites and e-mails, and maintenance and repair of aircraft.

A new milestone was reached in Chile’s international trade figures: during the first half of 2024, exports of goods and services reached record values for a similar period since records have been kept, according to a preview of the Monthly Trade Report prepared by the Studies Directorate of the Undersecretariat of International Economic Relations (SUBREI), with data from the Central Bank and the National Customs Service.

The Undersecretary for International Economic Relations, Claudia Sanhueza, said that despite the changing global scenario, the export sector shows encouraging data for the first half of the year. “These figures call us to continue working on the opening of new markets, with better access conditions for the supply of all our regions, positioning Chilean production in segments of higher added value, allowing us to generate more opportunities for diversification and more companies in the country to internationalize, particularly smaller companies and those led by women,” she added.

Between January and June 2024, exports of goods abroad totaled US$ 49,466 million, up 1.4% compared to the first half of 2023 (+US$ 679 million), the highest value for a first half of the year since records have been kept.

By sector, mining drove the growth of Chile’s exports in the first half of 2024, with shipments of US$ 27,725 million, reflecting an increase of 6.9% compared to the same period of 2023 (+US$ 1,792 million), also reaching its highest value in foreign sales for a first semester since records have been kept. The dynamism was supported by the increases in shipments of copper concentrates (+29%; +US$ 3,363 million), gold (+28%; +US$ 146 million) and iron ore (+14%; +US$ 109 million), which offset the decrease in lithium carbonate shipments (-41.8%; -US$ 1,196 million). All in all, mining closed the first half of the year representing 56% of the country’s exports of goods.

In the case of food exports, they totaled US$ 6,251 million as of June 2024, registering a slight contraction of -0.7% (-US$ 47 million) compared to the same period of 2023, due to a drop in shipments of certain salmon and trout cuts. However, shipments of frozen fruit, fishmeal, poultry meat, canned fish and fish oil, among others, increased.

Meanwhile, at the end of the first half of 2024, fresh fruit shipments reached the end of the new season with record sales abroad, totaling operations for US$ 5,132 million, a figure that reflects an increase of 15.4% (+ US$ 684 million), due to the increase in shipments of cherries, grapes, plums, peaches, apples and kiwis.

Pulp shipments totaled US$ 1,334 million, 7.1% higher than in the first half of 2023 (+US$ 88 million).

The wine sector totaled foreign sales of US$ 750 million, closing with an increase of 2.4% compared to the same period of 2023 (+US$ 18 million). Both the bottled wine (+2.8%) and bulk wine (+0.6%) categories increased. Bottled wines accounted for 78% of shipments, with blends with appellation of origin and Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pedro Jiménez varieties, among others, standing out.

Shipments of organic products reached exports of US$ 186 million, an increase of 30% (+US$ 42.7 million). The sector’s dynamism is explained by blueberries, raspberries, apple pulp, olive oil, wine, frozen blackberries, walnuts, honey, dehydrated strawberries, maqui juice and chamomile.

Exports of services

In the first half of 2024, Chilean exports of services climbed to US$ 1,387 million, an increase of 34.6% compared to the same period of 2023 (+US$ 356 million), the highest value for a similar period since records have been kept.

In the period, Chile exported a total of 220 different services. In the top five places, the following items stood out: “hosting for websites and e-mails” (Cloud Centers), with operations for US$ 206 million; “maintenance and repair of air devices” with US$ 184 million; “technical support in computing and information technology, via internet with US$ 98 million; consulting in information technology with US$ 55 million; and design and development of information technology applications with US$ 49 million. In addition, all of the above-mentioned services have increased their sales abroad.

Other relevant increases in the period were recorded in “R&D in medical and pharmaceutical sciences”, “inbound and outbound logistics support”, “original software design”, “consulting in administrative management of companies”. Also noteworthy were “consulting in engineering applied to mining”, “reproduction and development of mother material for the generation of fruit and vegetable plants”, “remote monitoring”, “engineering and architectural technical drawing”, “architectural design for residential building projects”, “information capture using drones” and “engineering for fish food production plants”.

During the period, Chilean services went to 114 destinations, led by the United States (US$ 459 million), Peru (US$ 252 million), Colombia (US$ 97 million), Switzerland (US$ 65 million), Mexico (US$ 51 million), Argentina (US$ 48 million), United Kingdom (US$ 46 million), Spain (US$ 35 million), Brazil (US$ 33 million) and Uruguay (US$ 32 million).

Check the article on the official website of the Undersecretariat of International Economic Relations by clicking here.