China's Total Goods Trade Reaches RMB 21.79 Trillion in H1 2025

According to data released by China Customs, the total value of China's goods trade in the first half of 2025 reached RMB 21.79 trillion, an increase of 2.9% year-on-year - a pace 0.4 percentage points faster than the growth recorded in the first five months of the year. Exports totaled RMB 13 trillion, up 7.2%, while imports amounted to RMB 8.79 trillion, down 2.7%.

Wang Lingjun, Vice Minister of the General Administration of Customs, commented that China's foreign trade navigated significant headwinds in the first half of the year, achieving both steady growth in scale and notable improvements in quality - a result that did not come easily. The key highlights of China's H1 trade performance are as follows:

In the first half of the year, China's total import and export value surpassed the RMB 20 trillion mark, setting a record high for the same period in history. On a quarterly basis, trade grew by 4.5% year-on-year in the second quarter, accelerating by 3.2 percentage points compared to the first quarter. This marks the seventh consecutive quarter of year-on-year trade growth.

China's trade with Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partner countries totaled RMB 11.29 trillion in the first half, up 4.7%, accounting for 51.8% of China's total trade - a 0.9 percentage point increase from a year earlier. Notably, trade with ASEAN countries reached RMB 3.67 trillion, up 9.6%. During the same period, trade with the EU, South Korea, and Japan also registered positive growth.

Exports of mechanical and electrical products totaled RMB 7.8 trillion, a 9.5% increase year-on-year, accounting for 60% of China's total exports - up 1.2 percentage points from the same period last year. High-end equipment exports, closely linked to emerging productive forces, surged by over 20%, while exports of the "new trio" of green and low-carbon products increased by 12.7%.

Thanks to the ongoing implementation of major domestic initiatives, including efforts to boost traditional and emerging industries, China's imports returned to positive growth in the second quarter. In the first half of the year, imports of machinery for petrochemical and textile industries grew at double-digit rates. Imports of key components such as electronic parts also recorded robust growth, alongside higher import volumes of critical raw materials like crude oil and metal ores.

The vitality of China's foreign trade operators continued to increase. In the first half of 2025, a total of 628,000 companies engaged in import and export activities - surpassing 600,000 for the first time in history and up by 43,000 from a year earlier. Among them, private enterprises numbered 547,000, contributing to a 7.3% increase in trade value and accounting for nearly 60% of China's total trade.

Wang warned, however, that the global rise of unilateralism and protectionism, coupled with growing external complexities, risks, and uncertainties, means China's foreign trade will still face significant challenges in sustaining its growth momentum in the second half of the year.