Chile Trade Surplus Widens in August

Chile’s trade surplus widened to $1.69 billion in August 2026 from $1.55 billion a year earlier, although it was the lowest surplus since August 2025. Exports rose 11.8% to $9.5 billion, driven by higher mining shipments (9.5%), particularly gold (192.2%) and lithium (207.5%), as well as industrial goods (15%), notably basic metals (28.2%) and metal products, machinery, and equipment (32.8%). Meanwhile, imports surged 12.5% to $7.8 billion, supported by higher purchases of consumer goods (16.5%), mainly vehicles (70.7%), and intermediate goods (20.5%), particularly energy products such as oil (120.5% vs. -7.1% in July) and diesel (63.2% vs. -18.3%). In contrast, purchases of capital goods declined 6.3%.

Chile's trade surplus widened to $1.99 billion in July 2026 from $297 million a year earlier, but fell short of forecasts for a $2.38 billion surplus. Exports rose 20.1% to $10.25 billion, driven by a 29.1% increase in mining shipments, including a 22.7% rise in copper exports. Silver exports surged 166.4%, while gold and lithium carbonate shipments jumped 73.3% and 134.5%, respectively. Exports of agricultural, forestry, and fishing products increased 15.6%, while industrial exports rose 6%. Meanwhile, imports edged up 0.2% to $8.26 billion, with consumer goods purchases rising 6.3% and intermediate goods increasing 0.2%, while capital goods imports fell 6.1%. Among consumer goods, imports of motor vehicles, cellphones, meat, and computers rose 49.7%, 32.6%, 34.4%, and 24.3%, respectively.

Chile’s trade surplus rose to $3.3 billion in June 2026 from $1.5 billion in the same month a year ealier and surpassing market forecasts of $2.9 billion. This marked the largest trade surplus since January, as exports jumped 25.1% to a six-month high of $10.8 billion, led by key copper sales, which rose 17.6%. Lithium carbonate (208.3%), gold (160%), silver (128.2%), and molybdenum concentrates (47.5%) also contributed significantly. At the same time, shiipments of industrial products advanced by 27.1%, mainly supported by chemical products (84%); metallic products, machinery and equipments (20.5%) and food products (9.5%). Sales of agricultural, forestry and fishing rose by 5.3%. Meanwhile, imports advanced 4.7% to $7.5 billion, as higher purchases of intermediate goods (12.8%) and consumer goods (1.2%) more than offset a 9.5% decline for capital goods.