MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

China becomes main destination for Chilean exports

China replaced the United States as the principal destination for Chilean exports in this year's first quarter. Chile's exports from January to March totalled over 15 billion US dollars, of which nearly 15.5% approximately 2.4 billion went to China.

Chile's exports to China nearly doubled from the same time period last year, while net exports increased 17.8%. The dramatic increase in exports to China is greatly due to the Free Trade Agreement between China and Chile that went into effect last October. The FTA stipulated that 90% of Chilean exports will enter China duty free. China's high demand for copper also greatly contributed to the export increase. Following China, Chile's main export destinations so far this year were the U.S. (14.7%), Japan (10.5%), Holland (7.2%) and South Korea (6.9%). The United States continues to dominate Chilean imports, representing 16.5% of the market, followed by China, 12.5% and Brazil, 12.5%. Argentina has recently fallen behind as a key import country for Chile, as Argentina's natural gas exports have drastically fallen. The Santiago Times