China's foreign trade maintained steady growth in the first three quarters of 2025, with total import and export value reaching 33.61 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4%. Exports grew 7.1% to 19.95 trillion yuan, while imports saw a slight decline of 0.2% to RMB 13.66 trillion. The trade performance showed notable improvement in September, with monthly trade volume hitting RMB 4.04 trillion, up 8% year-on-year.
Customs Vice Minister Wang Wei announced at a State Council Information Office press conference that China's foreign trade has now achieved year-on-year growth for eight consecutive quarters. The growth momentum accelerated through the year, with the third quarter recording 6% growth after 1.3% in the first quarter and 4.5% in the second quarter.
Trade with Belt and Road partner countries continued to expand, reaching RMB 17.37 trillion and accounting for 51.7% of China's total foreign trade. Emerging markets showed particularly strong performance, with trade growth rates of 19.5% in Africa, 16.7% in Central Asia, and 9.6% in ASEAN.
The export structure continued to upgrade, with mechanical and electrical products maintaining a dominant 60.5% share of total exports. High-tech and green products demonstrated robust growth, including high-end equipment exports rising 22.4% and "new three" products achieving double-digit growth.
Import recovery gained momentum in the third quarter, supported by expanding domestic demand. The quarter saw imports grow 4.7%, with crude oil and metal ore imports increasing 4.9% and 10.1% in volume, respectively. Imports of advanced equipment and technology products also showed positive trends.
The number of active foreign trade enterprises reached 700,000, with private enterprises playing a leading role. The 613,000 private enterprises handled RMB 19.16 trillion in trade, growing 7.8%, while foreign-invested enterprises maintained stable performance with RMB 9.82 trillion in trade volume.
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