Before addressing the latest figures available on Chile’s foreign trade with the world -which has already exceeded 100,000 million dollars so far this year-, we will review some macro data on the Chilean economy, which has already recovered from the contraction of 5.8% in 2020. This before the end of the current exercise, and that is that Chile leads the recovery in Latin America.
As we anticipated more than a year ago, returning to positive numbers would be quick, given that the crisis was caused by a natural disaster and that the fundamentals of the Chilean economy were solid despite the outbreak of violence that occurred at the end of 2019.
Analysts foresee for Chile , an emerging economy, an expansion at the end of the year of between 8.5% and 9.5% – some adventure 10% -. The tagline that is usually added in these cases is that the comparison base for the previous period is very low, but that circumstance is not at all different from what happens in most developed and developing countries.
In summary, there is a rapid repair of the damage suffered in the economy as a result of the coronavirus, the fiscal stimuli are taking effect and all this coincides with a very good price of copper , the first Chilean export. They worry the assumed debt and the deficit.
Trade would grow 23%. The investment locally rises, foreign direct shows very good results and the building begins to be activated. On the opposite side are the services, still stopped. Education must return to face-to-face and close to a million women should return to their jobs.
Let us remember that 80% of the population already has the complete vaccination schedule and a little over a week ago they began to apply a third dose to the group of the most vulnerable with AstraZeneca and Pfizer – BioNtech . Infections have decreased sharply again, facilitating rehabilitation.
Chile’s exchanges with the world reached 101,393 million dollars between January and July 2021, 36% more than in the same period of 2020. This amount, in the words of the Undersecretary of International Economic Relations (Subrei) with figures from the Central Bank of Chile is the “highest figure for Chilean foreign trade, surpassing for the first time the barrier of 100,000 million dollars in the seventh month of a year.”
Analysts foresee an expansion for Chile at the end of the year of between 8.5% and 9.5%
Exports increased in the period to 53.32 billion dollars, 29% more. Meanwhile, imports reached 48,073 million dollars, which represents an increase of 45%.
Of the products sent abroad, copper once again leads sales, standing at 30,295 million dollars. This represents an advance of 54% compared to 2020 and is 57% of what was shipped nationwide. This has a lot to do with the average price of the red metal, which was set at 4.14 dollars a pound of copper, 62% more than between January and July of last year. In addition, it was the highest amount since the first seven months of 2011, a decade ago, when it prorated 4.27.
Another sector that gives joy is the fruit sector. Fruit shipments totaled 2.35 million tons between January and July, worth 4,894 million FOB dollars. Compared with the same period of 2020, there was a decrease of -0.1% in exported volume and an increase of 4% in value. The breakdown in price is as follows: 77% corresponded to fresh fruit, 17% to processed fruit (juices, oils, preserves, frozen, dehydrated) and 6% to dried fruits (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, among others).
The main species sold were cherries, which totaled 266,000 and 1,287 million FOB dollars: it represented an increase of 83% in volume and 35% in value, referring to January-July 2020. These were followed by table grapes, with 521,600 equivalent tons and 870.8 million dollars FOB. This is followed by blueberries, with 96,000 tons and 484 million FOB dollars, and then apples -456,800 tons and 414.9 million FOB dollars. These fruits represented 81% of the total commercialized.
Let’s move on to imports. In relation to 2020 all categories have grown. Consumer goods have had an explosive rise, 69%; Most likely, an important part of these purchases corresponds to replenishment of stock from a business that has been closed. Intermediate goods accumulate a rise of 38% and what we see with optimism are investments in capital goods, with increases of 35%. In general, the hospitalizations are made up of petroleum oil, cars, trucks, cell phones, natural gas, excavators, computers, wheat, boats, vaccines, beef, gymnastic articles, t-shirts, PCR reagents, fiber optic cables and televisions, among others.
A recent study on the perception of Chilean products and services carried out in 12 cities around the world (São Paulo, Toronto, New York, Washington, Madrid, London, Paris, Berlin, Shanghai, Tokyo, New Delhi and Dubai) commissioned by Imagen País yields results that invite optimism.
Imports of consumer goods have had an explosive rise of 69%
Let’s say that ten or more years ago Chilean goods and services were known for their low prices. This portrait has begun to mutate. The attributes with which they are most associated today are good quality (57%), low prices (31%) and artisan production (26%). Meanwhile, the quality of sustainability has stood out, with an increase of 10 percentage points (from 16% to 26%) compared to the previous measurement, carried out in 2020.
In Chile, companies and entrepreneurs strive to produce assuming international standards; innovating and incorporating cutting-edge technologies and digitizing are priorities at different levels.