Diversity vital in exports to China

Brazil should expand its exports of processed food to diversify the mix of goods sold to China, said Jose Vicente Lessa, consul general of Brazil in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

Soybean, iron ore and oil products account for 79 percent of Brazil's exports to China. "We should not focus on primary products," Lessa said.

Brazil also exports sugar, leather, meat, soy oil, paper pulp and airplanes. Its main imports from China include machinery, electrical materials, integrated circuits, chemicals, plastics and cars.

Trade between Brazil and China more than doubled to $83 billion between 2009 and 2013. It dipped slightly last year, partly because of the economic downturn in Brazil, but it has since rebounded, he said.

Brazil is the world's largest producer and exporter of coffee, sugar and orange juice, the largest meat exporter and the second-largest producer and exporter of soy products, as well as a major grower of corn.

Last year, Brazil's agricultural exports to China accounted for 22 percent of the South American nation's total agricultural exports. China is Brazil's largest trading partner.

China Invest started importing Chinese goods to Brazil in 1999 and began exporting Brazilian products to China in 2013.