Foreign trade data in Chile continue to improve. The trade balance reached a surplus of 2,906 million dollars in March 2023 -the highest since 3,019 million dollars in April 2007-, compared to the positive balance of 341 million dollars in the same month last year.
According to the data published by the Central Bank, in March 9,762 million FOB dollars were recorded in exports, which means an increase of 13.1% compared to the same period of 2022 and an increase of 1,423 million FOB dollars compared to the month former. The increase in shipments abroad comes hand in hand with mining, which represented more than half of the goods that were sold abroad, translated into 5.883 million FOB dollars. This also means a growth of 21.9% in the sector, compared to the same month last year.
And it is that the advance of the mining sector is due to the good news that copper grew again after a year of falls: in March the main national export product reached an expansion of 9.9% year-on-year –or a sale of 4,585 million FOB dollars. The increase in mineral exports is explained by the 26.8% year-on-year growth of concentrates.
While iron and gold registered drops, it was lithium carbonate and molybdenum concentrate, the mining products that were also behind the rise in foreign trade, registering increases of 174.3% and 400%, respectively.
