Beijing, China, 29 March – Portuguese exports to China rose more than four-fold in the last decade and in 2009 rose 20 percent, totalling around 222 million euros, a source from the Portuguese embassy said Friday in Beijing.

“Our economic relations are not at a standstill and the trend is for China to become increasingly important,” the source told Portuguese news agency Lusa.

Ten years ago, China was Portugal’s 33rd largest market and now it is in 16th place, after Cape Verde but ahead of the Czech republic, Austria, Finland and other European Union partners.

Portuguese imports from China – which are higher than exports, as with most European countries, have also seen significant rises, but at a slower rate.

According to calculations by the Portuguese export promotion agency, AICEP, Portuguese exports to China (excluding Macau and Hong Kong) totalled 221.949 million euros (37.93 million more than the previous year) and imports totalled 1.115 billion euros, a drop of 16.9 percent on 2008.

Marble, chemical industry products, machinery and electrical apparatus, cork, copper and cellulose pulp accounted for half of Portuguese exports to China. (macauhub)