Official data indicate that the value of Brazilian exports to Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao rose to US$14.6 billion in the first quarter of this year, 4.3 percent more than a year earlier.

Brazilian first-quarter imports from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao were worth US$10 billion, meaning Sino-Brazilian trade was greater than Brazilian trade with any other country, figures published by the Brazilian Ministry of the Economy show.

A report in a Brazilian newspaper, O Globo, quotes Brazilian undersecretary for foreign trade statistics Herlon Brandão as saying Sino-Brazilian trade recovered in February and March, from a slump in January caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The growth in Brazilian first-quarter exports to China was due to greater sales in China of Brazilian beef, pork, iron ore, soybeans and cotton, O Globo quotes Mr Brandão as saying.