2026.11.0911:48:37UTC+00Chile Posts Largest Trade Surplus Since June

Chile’s trade surplus widened to $2.55 billion in October 2026 from $2.0 billion a year earlier, marking its largest surplus since June. Exports increased 1.2% year-on-year to $10.29 billion, supported by a 14% rise in industrial shipments, led by food products (18.7%), chemicals (17.1%), and metal products, machinery and equipment (52.4%). In contrast, mining exports declined 3.2%, and agricultural, forestry and fishing exports fell 19.6%. On the import side, total purchases decreased 4.3% to $7.73 billion, primarily reflecting a 29.4% drop in capital goods imports. This was driven by lower imports of transport vehicles, including trucks and cargo vehicles (-18.1%), buses (-11.8%), and other transport vehicles (-81.8%), as well as electric motors, generators and transformers (-88.1%). Offsetting this to some extent, imports of intermediate goods rose 3.2%, while consumer goods imports increased 6.3%.