An aerial drone photo shows the view of a container terminal of Nanjing Port in east China’s Jiangsu Province, Oct. 19, 2025. (Photo by Yang Suping/Xinhua)
China’s foreign trade edged up in the first 11 months of 2025, with total imports and exports of goods reaching 41.21 trillion yuan ($5.83 trillion), a year-on-year rise of 3.6 percent, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Monday.
The exports reached 24.46 trillion yuan, up 6.2 percent year-on-year, while imports grew 0.2 percent year-on-year to 16.75 trillion yuan, the administration said.
In November alone, the total value of China’s foreign trade reached 3.9 trillion yuan ($551.5 billion), marking a year-on-year increase of 4.1 percent, customs data showed. In November, exports rose by 5.7 percent year-on-year, while imports jumped 1.7 percent.
Observers said the rebound was partly driven by the continued restocking in overseas markets and the phased recovery in global manufacturing activity. It also underscored the resilience of China’s foreign trade engine.
In the first 11 months, ASEAN remained China’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching 6.82 trillion yuan, up 8.5 percent year-on-year, accounting for 16.6 percent of China’s total foreign trade. The EU was China’s second-largest trading partner, with a trade volume hitting 5.37 trillion yuan, up 5.4 percent year-on-year, accounting for 13 percent of China’s total foreign trade.
China’s trade with the US, which is China’s third-largest trading partner, plunged by 16.9 percent year-on-year to 3.69 trillion yuan in January-November period, accounting for 8.9 percent of China’s total foreign trade.
In the first 11 months, China’s imports and exports with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partner countries gained 6 percent year-on-year to reach 21.33 trillion yuan, accounting for 51.8 percent of China’s total foreign trade. Meanwhile, Chinese private enterprises saw a year-on-year growth of 7.1 percent in foreign trade in January-November period, with the value of imports and exports totaling 23.52 trillion yuan, customs data showed.
Global Times