Foreign trade shows steady growth in first five months

Chinese exporters' accelerated shift toward higher-value manufacturing and their sustained focus on innovation will anchor foreign trade growth this year, officials, manufacturers and experts said on Monday.

As China works to consolidate its position in global industrial chains, Chinese companies' large-scale production, innovation, industrial upgrades and market diversification will keep driving exports in the second half of the year, they said.

Liang Ming, director of the Institute of International Trade at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said that China's robust industrial ecosystem provides enormous stability for the nation's foreign trade supply networks.

Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that China's foreign trade grew 2.5 percent year-on-year to reach 17.94 trillion yuan ($2.5 trillion) in the first five months of 2025.

Lyu Daliang, director of the administration's department of statistics and analysis, said the Chinese economy has continued to recover since the beginning of the year, with trade in goods demonstrating resilience.

China's imports and exports maintained a steady growth momentum last month, with an acceleration following high-level trade talks between China and the United States in Geneva, Switzerland, in mid-May, Lyu said.

China's total value of goods trade reached 3.81 trillion yuan last month, up 2.7 percent year-on-year.

Xiao Lu, deputy director of the department of foreign trade at the Ministry of Commerce, said that amid global supply chain restructuring and de-risking trends, Chinese manufacturers have ramped up innovation, fostering innovation chains alongside industrial clusters.

Wang Qian, a researcher specializing in international trade at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, said that China's export growth has been primarily driven by mechanical and electrical product exports in recent years.

Data from the GAC shows that China's mechanical and electrical product exports increased 9.3 percent year-on-year to 6.4 trillion yuan between January and May — 60 percent of the country's total exports.

Since the beginning of the year, leading contributors to export expansion have included integrated circuits, computers, electric vehicles and energy-efficient container ships.

Hong Zhi, president of Dasqua Technology, a precision measuring equipment manufacturer in Chengdu, Sichuan province, said that since mid-May, the company's clients in the US states of California, New York and Michigan have been seeking expedited shipments.

The fastest batch has already been dispatched from Shanghai, with new orders increasing by around 10 percent last month, Hong said.

zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn