After the growth in import and export trade last year exceeded expectations, in the first quarter of this year, the scale of foreign trade grew strongly again and hit a record high for the same period in history.
Different from the previous impression that light industry and textile processing trade products were the main products, the growth momentum of China’s foreign trade is quietly changing.
Among them, the “new troika” such as electric vehicles, lithium batteries, wind turbines and their parts have performed particularly well.
According to customs statistics, in the first quarter of this year, my country’s import and export of goods trade was 11.84 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%.
Among them, exports were 6.85 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.9%; imports were 4.99 trillion yuan, an increase of 19.6%.
Wang Jun, deputy director of the General Administration of Customs, said at a press conference of the State Council Information Office that the scale of foreign trade has hit a record high for the same period in history.
In the first quarter, imports and exports exceeded 11 trillion yuan, the first time in the same period in history, and the quarterly growth rate was also the highest in the past five years.
In early May, Huang Qifan dissected the deep logic behind the growth of China’s foreign trade surplus at the Tsinghua PBC Global Financial Forum.
In his view, China’s trade surplus exceeded US$1.2 trillion last year, setting a century-old record.
In the first quarter of this year, the monthly surplus generally remained above US$100 billion, and there is a high probability that it will reach US$1.2 trillion again throughout the year.
This is not a result deliberately pursued by the government, but a natural manifestation of the historic achievements of “Made in China 2025”.
The “Made in China 2025” strategy focuses on the ten most important categories of global manufacturing. These categories together account for more than 50% of global manufacturing output value and are the core areas of manufacturing competition among various countries.
Huang Qifan said that in 2010, China was in a “follow-up” state in these ten major fields, focusing on introduction, digestion and absorption, and cooperation.
At present, China has achieved comprehensive leadership in five major fields, including shipbuilding, high-speed railways and rail transit, electric power equipment and power transmission and transformation equipment, new energy vehicles, and new energy; in the other five major fields, including new materials, biomedicine, aerospace, high-end equipment, digitalization, and artificial intelligence, it has moved from a comprehensive “following” stage to a “paralleling” stage.
Huang Qifan judged: “Currently, 90% of my country’s export products are mechanical and electrical products, and they are no longer dominated by light industrial and textile processing trade products. Against this background, my country’s export structure has undergone profound changes.”
In the first quarter, China exported 4.34 trillion yuan of mechanical and electrical products, an increase of 18.3%, accounting for 63.4% of the total export value, an increase of 3.5 percentage points from the same period last year.
Among them, exports of the “three new items” such as electric vehicles, lithium batteries, wind turbines and their parts increased by 77.5%, 50.4% and 45.2% respectively.
From a regional perspective, in the first quarter, China’s imports and exports to countries co-building the “Belt and Road” were 6.06 trillion yuan, an increase of 14.2%, accounting for 51.2% of the total import and export value.
It is worth mentioning that Dai Pu, co-president of the Roland Berger Global Management Committee, had previously analyzed at the “Foresight 2025: China Industry Trend Report” press conference. In his view, China’s export destinations will continue to shift to countries in the global south, and the key export products will gradually transition from the current “three new products” to the next generation of “three new products” related to energy transformation, semiconductors, and high-end manufacturing.
Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that in the first four months of this year, the export volume of integrated circuits increased by 78.3% year-on-year, and the export volume of industrial robots increased by 30% year-on-year. In April alone, the export volume of integrated circuits soared by 99.6% year-on-year.
Ministry of Commerce spokesperson He Yongqian said: “The global AI wave has deeply stimulated product demand, and integrated circuit trade has achieved rapid growth. China is a key supplier of global AI infrastructure and a large buyer and seller of global integrated circuits. This is not only the result of the resonance of the global industrial cycle and market demand, but also a vivid reflection of the continuous optimization of my country’s foreign trade structure and the steady improvement of industrial innovation capabilities.”
As an export town, Suzhou Industrial Park is a window to observe the strong growth of China’s foreign trade.
Suzhou InnoLight, the core subsidiary of optical module leader Zhongji InnoLight (according to financial report data, contributes more than 95% of the parent company’s revenue) is located in Suzhou Industrial Park.
In fact, it has gathered 7 tens of billions of industrial enterprises, 72 listed companies, 220 national-level specialized and new “little giants” and more than 3,200 national high-tech enterprises. It has in-depth layout of the two leading industries of new generation information technology and high-end equipment manufacturing, as well as the four emerging industries of biomedicine, nano-new materials, artificial intelligence, and new energy.
According to customs statistics, in the first quarter of 2026, the total foreign trade import and export value of Suzhou Industrial Park was 328.67 billion yuan, an increase of 81.2% over the same period last year (the same below). It has maintained year-on-year growth for 10 consecutive quarters and reached the highest scale in the same period in history. Among them, exports were 165.7 billion yuan, an increase of 74.9%.
The reporter learned from the Suzhou Industrial Park Customs that in the first four months of this year, the park’s export commodities mainly covered industries such as electronic technology, computers and communications, and biomedicine.
Among them, electronic components were the absolute main force, with export scale reaching 131.99 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.6 times, accounting for 54.8% of the total export value in the same period; computer and parts exports were 19.33 billion yuan, an increase of 84.4%. The above-mentioned commodities were mainly exported to ASEAN, South Korea and the European Union.
In addition, commercial buses produced by enterprises in the park are exported to North Africa, Western Europe and the Middle East. Exports increased significantly by 73.2% in the first four months.
Why is export so rapid?
The relevant person in charge of the Suzhou Industrial Park Customs said that on the one hand, key industrial clusters such as biomedicine, electronic technology, computers and communications continue to develop, and the industrial structure continues to upgrade to high added value, supporting the high growth of foreign trade.
On the other hand, customs supervision innovation and policy dividends have been released together, and customs clearance efficiency and cost advantages are outstanding. Nanjing Customs has implemented 16 measures to support the high-quality development of the park, 10 measures to support biomedicine, and 10 measures to support the integrated circuit industry, making customs clearance more convenient and logistics costs lower.
Talking about the specific policy support for the park, the person in charge said that the park has built the country’s first cross-customs area air freight forwarding cargo station, which can save companies 12-24 hours of logistics time and reduce ground logistics costs by 10%-30%.
It is reported that the Shanghai Airport-Suzhou front cargo station will be established in 2025, taking the lead in opening up an efficient channel for the circulation of regional production factors and extending the air cargo services of Shanghai Airport to the “doorsteps” of Suzhou enterprises.
In the past, the goods of Suzhou enterprises had to be sent to the Shanghai agency warehouse for tallying, order making, and coding, and then to the Shanghai Airport cargo station for customs inspection and security inspection. The goods required multiple loading and unloading and repeated circulation, which were prone to problems such as failure, breach of contract, and dumping of goods. Enterprises had high hidden costs and high delivery pressure.
The front-end cargo station can realize 7×24-hour automated and intelligent operation of all logistics supervision nodes of the customs.
At the same time, the person in charge said that Suzhou Industrial Park is also actively striving to include more products in the comprehensive bonded zone bonded maintenance product catalog, helping enterprises transform from traditional low-yield processing trade to a production and service model with high technology content and more lucrative profits, continuously improving the market competitiveness of enterprises, and expanding the high-end service and manufacturing market.
In 2025, the import and export value of bonded maintenance of electronic products in the comprehensive bonded area of the park will reach 74.298 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of nearly 21%.
From the upgrading of the industrial structure to high added value, to the customs’ use of institutional innovation and cross-regional collaboration to pave more efficient and convenient export channels for enterprises, the two-way development of industry and policy has become a solid driving force behind the rapid growth of exports.
