Last year, the trade volume between China and Latin America exceeded 518.4 billion US dollars, reaching a historic high

On May 13, 2025, the reporter learned from the Ministry of Commerce that in recent years, China's economic and trade cooperation with Latin American and Caribbean countries has continued to expand, achieving a series of fruitful results.

Bilateral trade continues to grow. In 2024, the trade volume between China and Latin America reached a historical high of 518.47 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 6.0%. From January to March 2025, the total trade volume between China and Latin America was 118.3 billion US dollars, of which China's exports were 65.73 billion US dollars and China's imports were 52.58 billion US dollars.

Mutual investment continues to expand. In 2024, China's direct investment in Latin America amounted to 14.71 billion US dollars. From January to March 2025, China will invest 270 million US dollars directly in the entire industry. As of March 2025, the cumulative investment and establishment of enterprises by Latin American countries in China has reached 37000.

The number of contracted projects continues to increase. Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, and Mexico are the main markets for Chinese companies to carry out contracted engineering business. As of the end of 2024, China has signed a total of 300.61 billion US dollars in contracted engineering contracts in Latin America, achieving a turnover of 190.78 billion US dollars. From January to March 2025, China signed new contracted engineering contracts worth 14.68 billion US dollars and achieved a turnover of 5.99 billion US dollars.

The construction of pilot free trade zones has yielded fruitful results. In January and May 2024, the China Nepal (Galagua) and China Ecuador (Ecuador) free trade agreements will officially come into effect. The protocol for upgrading the China Chile free trade agreement and the Costa Rica free trade agreement have been well implemented, and the negotiations for upgrading the Peru free trade agreement have been substantially completed.