Arguably, the bigger surprise of the December report was that China’s imports grew by 5.7% YoY in December, up from 1.9% in November — much stronger than expected. Overall, imports lagged in 2025, ending the year flat at 0.0% YoY.
By import origination, China’s imports rose the most from Indonesia (15.6%), Singapore (14.7%), India (9.7%), and the Netherlands (8.8%) in 2025. In contrast, the trade war with the US resulted in a -14.6% YoY drop in imports from the US. We also saw contractions in imports from Malaysia (-20.4%), Canada (-10.4%), and Australia (-7.5%) amid various tariff developments.
By product, China’s imports have been rather concentrated in its tech race efforts. Hi-tech imports rose by 9.3% YoY, with strong imports of automatic data processing equipment (18.2%), and semiconductors (10.1%). We saw steep drop-offs in auto imports (-39.7%) as well as crude oil (-8.8%) as domestic electric vehicles continue to dominate the market, and imports of construction-related products such as steel (-10.7%) and lumber (-13.9%) fared poorly on the year.
A sustained acceleration in imports could go a long way toward alleviating pressure on, and from, China’s key trading partners.