Data released by the General Administration of Customs on August 7 showed that China’s goods imports and exports maintained sound growth momentum in the first seven months of the year, hitting a total value of RMB 30.13 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 17.3%. Exports stood at RMB 17.44 trillion, rising by 14%, while imports reached RMB 12.69 trillion with a 22% year-on-year jump. Growth in imports continued to outpace that of exports.

On a monthly basis, China’s total imports and exports reached RMB 4.66 trillion in July, staying above RMB 4 trillion for five consecutive months and growing 19.2% year-on-year. Exports rose 17.8% and imports climbed 21.2%.

Feng Lin, Executive Director of the Research and Development Department at Orient Jincheng, told reporters from the Shanghai Securities News that robust export growth was driven by three major factors. First, buoyed by the global AI investment boom, exports of domestic chips and related products surged sharply, serving as the primary engine for overall export expansion. Second, progress in the transformation and upgrading of domestic manufacturing continued to fuel exports of new energy vehicles and high-tech products. Third, generally strong external demand bolstered shipments of China’s traditional merchandise.

New growth drivers in foreign trade registered steady improvement. In July, China’s exports of high-tech products surged more than 50% year-on-year, contributing nearly 60% of the total export increment. Exports of green and low-carbon products such as electric vehicles and lithium batteries recorded double-digit growth for the 17th consecutive month.

Customs data indicated that China’s exports of mechanical and electrical products reached RMB 11.12 trillion in the first seven months, growing 21.2% year-on-year and accounting for 63.8% of total exports, up 3.8 percentage points from the same period last year. Exports of green low-carbon goods including electric vehicles, lithium batteries and wind turbine units jumped 71.2%, 35.8% and 34.8% respectively. Exports of 3D printers, industrial robots and ships amounted to RMB 11.2 billion, RMB 7.34 billion and RMB 268.14 billion respectively, rising by 110%, 13.2% and 32.7%.

China has proactively expanded opening-up on its own initiative and boosted imports to advance balanced development of imports and exports. To date, zero-tariff policies have been applied to imports from 63 countries, and China has retained its position as the world’s second-largest importer for 17 straight years. In the January-July period, import growth outperformed export growth by 8 percentage points, enabling more high-quality global goods to access the Chinese market.

Breakdown by trade entities: Customs statistics showed that private enterprises recorded imports and exports worth RMB 17.16 trillion in the first seven months, up 17.2% year-on-year and accounting for 56.9% of the country’s total foreign trade volume, remaining the largest foreign trade operator. In the same period, foreign-invested enterprises posted imports and exports of RMB 8.78 trillion (up 17.6%), and state-owned enterprises registered RMB 4.14 trillion (up 17.3%).

Breakdown by trading partners: China’s trade with ASEAN reached RMB 5.14 trillion in the first seven months, a year-on-year increase of 20%; trade with the European Union totaled RMB 3.67 trillion, rising 9.5%; trade with the United States came to RMB 2.38 trillion, a year-on-year decline of 1.6%. Meanwhile, China’s combined imports and exports with Belt and Road Initiative partner countries hit RMB 15.36 trillion, growing 15.5%.

Wen Bin, Chief Economist at Minsheng Bank, commented that China’s strong export growth is set to continue. The semiconductor industrial chain will maintain its core driving role, external demand will see marginal improvement amid a recovering global economy, and the steady implementation of US tariff policies will generate manageable short-term disruptions.

“Looking ahead, exports will sustain rapid expansion, imports of integrated circuits will stay high, disruptions from extreme weather will fade, previously delayed import procurement demand will rebound, and the comparison base from the same period last year will be lower. Against this backdrop, the year-on-year growth rate of imports and exports is expected to pick up further in August,” said Feng Lin.

Source: Shanghai Securities News