Official data show that the value of Brazilian exports to China rose to US$4.2 billion last month, 1.9 per cent more than a year earlier and the most in any month on record, the Brazil-China Business Council says.

Figures given by the Brazilian Economy Ministry’s Secretariat for Foreign Trade show the value of Chinese exports to Brazil rose to US$5.1 billion last month, 47 per cent more than a year earlier, the council tweeted on Tuesday.

The value of trade between Brazil and mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau combined rose by 16 per cent to US$9.53 billion last month, even though Brazilian exports of iron ore shrank, again making the combination the biggest trading partner of Brazil, the Brazil-China Business Council says.

The state-run news agency, Agência Brasil, quoted the Brazilian undersecretary for foreign trade statistics, Herlon Brandão, as saying last week that Brazilian imports from China of crude oil, natural gas and coal were 39.9 per cent greater last month than a year earlier.