A press conference held on the morning of April 14 announced foreign trade data for the first quarter of 2026. The total import and export value was 11.84 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%, and the scale exceeded the 11 trillion mark for the first time in history during the same period.
Among them, exports were 6.85 trillion yuan (+11.9%), and imports were 4.99 trillion yuan (+19.6%). The growth rate of imports exceeded exports by 7.7 percentage points, and the pattern of “double import and export” has initially emerged.
The General Administration of Customs preliminarily estimates that cross-border e-commerce imports and exports in the first quarter were 618.46 billion yuan, of which exports were 473.55 billion yuan and imports were 144.91 billion yuan. The contribution of new business formats to overall foreign trade growth continues to increase.
From the overall performance, the basic foreign trade market is more stable.
Among the core indicators, the total value of imports and exports, exports, imports, and cross-border e-commerce imports and exports all showed good growth trends.
There are 618,000 companies with import and export performance.
Two key changes deserve attention: First, the growth rate of imports has significantly outperformed exports, indicating that the “import expansion” strategy has accelerated, and the recovery in domestic demand has driven the full release of import demand; second, “strong imports and weak exports” are not structural deterioration. This round of high import growth is mainly driven by high-tech products and industrial upgrade equipment, indicating that domestic manufacturing is accelerating its migration to the high end of the value chain.
The 2026 Government Work Report clarifies relevant policy goals. The 15% growth rate in the first quarter has laid a solid foundation for the steady growth of foreign trade in the first year of the “15th Five-Year Plan”.
In terms of structural optimization, mechanical and electrical products accounted for 63.4%, and the gold content of foreign trade has increased significantly.
In the export category structure, the export growth rate of mechanical and electrical products has significantly outperformed the overall export growth rate, and its proportion has increased, while the proportion of labor-intensive products has been passively reduced.
The import structure has been upgraded, the growth rate of imports of high-tech products far exceeds that of overall imports, and the domestic manufacturing industry has accelerated technological upgrading through “introduction”.
A hierarchical interpretation shows that the government should prioritize high-end manufacturing and other fields and increase the cultivation and introduction of relevant industrial chains; factories should seize the bonus period for the export of mechanical and electrical products and focus on overseas order opportunities in new energy, consumer electronics and other fields. Factories related to labor-intensive products should accelerate upgrading or open up cross-border e-commerce channels.
In terms of market structure, diversification has achieved remarkable results, and emerging markets have become growth engines.
Among its major trading partners, Africa leads the growth rate, and the “Belt and Road” countries contribute more than half of their trade share. China’s foreign trade fundamentals are accelerating from traditional Europe and the United States to emerging markets.
Dependence on the United States continues to decrease, and geopolitical risks require a high degree of vigilance.
The government should guide companies to delve into emerging markets and make supply chain replacement plans; factories should explore ASEAN, Africa, and Latin American markets and be wary of single market risks.
In terms of regional structure, the growth rate of the central and western regions outperformed the eastern region by 20.2%, and the dividends of industrial transfer were released.
The central and western regions have benefited from factors such as industrial transfer, China-Europe freight trains and the expansion of comprehensive pilot zones.
The “leading role” effect of major foreign trade provinces is still significant, with Shandong performing outstandingly.
The government should seize the opportunity of industrial transfer, accelerate the transformation of comprehensive pilot zones, and increase support for small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises; the factory side can take advantage of the decline in logistics costs and policy dividends in the central and western regions to proactively connect policy support.
In terms of new business formats, cross-border e-commerce has reached 618.46 billion yuan, and the key deployments of the government work report have been accelerated.
Cross-border e-commerce has an export-led structure and has become a new engine for export growth.
The government should promote the transformation of the construction of comprehensive pilot zones from “approval” to “effectiveness”, promote the in-depth integration of “cross-border e-commerce + industrial belt”, lay out the compliance system in advance, and introduce overseas warehouse policy support; the factory side should regard cross-border e-commerce as a must-have option for overseas expansion, seize the opportunity to enter the market with low thresholds, and pay attention to overseas warehouse construction subsidies and green trade compliance.
Looking forward to the second quarter, there are three major variables: geopolitics, global demand, and new business dividends.
The government should do a good job in improving the quality and efficiency of the comprehensive pilot area, connecting cross-border e-commerce with industrial belts, diversifying the market, and building a compliance system; the factory should implement actions such as market diversification, launching cross-border e-commerce, and product compliance.
The foreign trade data in the first quarter gave an opening answer of “stable quantity and improved quality”. Commercial departments and manufacturing companies at all levels should seize the opportunity and take the lead in the foreign trade map in the first year of the “15th Five-Year Plan”.
