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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, March 10 (Xinhua) — China's foreign trade has demonstrated confident progress since the start of this year: in the first two months of 2026, the total value of China's imports and exports grew at a double-digit rate, up 18.3 percent year-on-year, according to official data released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Tuesday.
According to data, in January-February of this year, the total volume of trade in goods for this period reached 7.73 trillion yuan (about 1.12 trillion US dollars).
Exports reached 4.62 trillion yuan, up 19.2 percent year-on-year. Imports totaled 3.11 trillion yuan, up 17.1 percent year-on-year.
During the reporting period, China's exports of high-tech and electromechanical products with high added value increased by 24.3 percent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, strong consumer spending fueled by China's nine-day Spring Festival holiday (Chinese New Year) has unleashed robust import demand. In the first two months, China's imports of mechanical and electrical products, iron ore, and crude oil saw double-digit growth.
SUSTAINABLE TRADE GROWTH
In 2026, China's foreign trade continued to demonstrate resilience and dynamism after the country's foreign trade turnover grew by 3.8 percent in 2025 compared to 2024.
Analysts noted that since the beginning of this year, various regions and departments in China have made active efforts to expand foreign trade, while a large number of foreign trade enterprises have worked hard to secure orders and expand markets.
Huang Qunhui, a research fellow at the Institute of Economic Research of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the successful start laid a solid foundation for China's foreign trade prospects in 2026.
The transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry and the expansion of domestic demand, which is driving imports, have combined to provide additional impetus to the high-quality development of foreign trade, Huang Qunhui noted.
At a press conference held last week on the sidelines of the ongoing 4th session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said that in January-February 2026, China's foreign trade basically maintained the characteristics and momentum seen in 2025.
Nevertheless, he said, the external environment facing the country's foreign trade remains "complex and serious," and the pressure to stabilize foreign trade remains difficult. "The recent escalation of geopolitical conflicts has impacted the international trade and economic order, as well as global production and supply chains, making the situation even more uncertain and unstable," Wang Wentao explained.
VARIOUS TRADING PARTNERS
Broken down by region and country, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) remained China's largest trading partner. Trade between China and ASEAN in the first two months of 2026 exceeded 1.24 trillion yuan, up 20.3 percent from the same period last year.
It is followed by the European Union, with trade in goods with China amounting to 998.94 billion yuan over the same period, up 19.9 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, according to official data, China's trade with Latin America increased by 19.7 percent year-on-year, and with Africa by 34.2 percent.
Trade volume between China and the US during the period amounted to 609.71 billion yuan, down 16.9 percent from the same period last year, the data show.
According to the General Administration of Customs of China, in the first two months of 2026, China's trade turnover with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative reached 4.02 trillion yuan, a 20 percent increase year-on-year.
As the Chinese Minister of Commerce stated at the same press conference, this year China will promote balanced trade growth by stabilizing exports and providing greater opportunities in the domestic market. He promised to increase imports of agricultural products, premium consumer goods, modern equipment, and key components.
He also said that China will accelerate the development of digital trade and green trade, and promote the export of artificial intelligence products, clean energy equipment and other products, seeking to cultivate new drivers of foreign trade. -0-
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