On June 9, the General Administration of Customs announced the latest report card on the import and export of goods trade.
Data show that in the first five months of 2026, the total value of my country’s import and export of goods trade was 20.68 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.3%.
Among them, exports were 11.91 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.8%; imports were 8.77 trillion yuan, an increase of 20.5%.
Lu Yue, a professor at the National Institute for Opening up and Vice President of the School of International Economics and Trade at the University of International Business and Economics, said that the total value of my country’s import and export of goods trade increased significantly in the first five months of this year, benefiting from the combined effect of multiple factors.
The implementation of multiple rounds of stabilizing foreign trade policies has effectively released new momentum for foreign trade; the concentrated release of demand for artificial intelligence computing infrastructure construction has led to the expansion of trade in the entire chain of electronic components; the efficiency of cross-border logistics and transportation has steadily improved, helping the smooth operation of the global supply chain; emerging markets are playing an increasingly important role in international trade, creating more opportunities for Chinese products to “go overseas”; the vitality of foreign trade business entities continues to burst, and the pattern of diversified and coordinated development of various business entities has become increasingly stable.
In terms of trade methods, in the first five months, my country’s general trade imports and exports were 12.47 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.3%; processing trade imports and exports were 3.95 trillion yuan, an increase of 22.9%; bonded logistics imports and exports were 3.59 trillion yuan, an increase of 41.8%.
In terms of trading partners, in the first five months, the total trade value between my country and ASEAN was 3.52 trillion yuan, an increase of 16.6%; the total trade value between my country and the EU was 2.53 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.3%; the total trade value between my country and the United States was 1.61 trillion yuan, a decrease of 6.6%.
During the same period, my country’s total imports and exports to countries co-building the “Belt and Road” were 10.57 trillion yuan, an increase of 13.6%.
Xu Feibiao, a researcher at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations and director of the BRICS and G20 Research Center, said that my country’s exports to countries that jointly build the “Belt and Road” mainly include transportation equipment, new energy vehicles, wind power equipment, etc., and the trend of digital and green transformation is becoming more and more significant; the products that my country imports from the countries that jointly build the “Belt and Road” mainly include metal ores and ores, electronic equipment, agricultural products, etc., and the proportion of manufacturing products is increasing.
At present, many countries co-building the “Belt and Road” emphasize “local manufacturing”, and at the same time many Chinese investors invest and build factories in these countries. “Two-way” cooperation has led to closer economic and trade exchanges between my country and the countries co-building the “Belt and Road”.
From the perspective of foreign trade entities, in the first five months, the import and export of private enterprises was 11.81 trillion yuan, an increase of 15.5%; the import and export of foreign-invested enterprises was 6.02 trillion yuan, an increase of 15.7%; the import and export of state-owned enterprises was 2.81 trillion yuan, an increase of 14%.
Looking at key commodities, in terms of exports, in the first five months, my country exported 7.58 trillion yuan of mechanical and electrical products, an increase of 18.4%; 1.61 trillion yuan of labor-intensive products, a decrease of 3.1%; and 300.79 billion yuan of agricultural products, an increase of 1.6%.
In terms of imports, in the first five months, my country imported 3.54 trillion yuan of mechanical and electrical products, an increase of 25.3%; 218 million tons of crude oil, a decrease of 4.8%; and 618.16 billion yuan of agricultural products, an increase of 7.6%.
Experts interviewed generally believe that, in the context of a complex and ever-changing international trade environment, the excellent export performance of domestic mechanical and electrical products fully proves that the relevant domestic industrial chains are resilient, dynamic and have great potential.
In the future, the export performance of mechanical and electrical products is still worth looking forward to.
In addition, looking at a single month, in May, my country’s total import and export value of goods trade was 4.45 trillion yuan, an increase of 16.9%.
Among them, exports were 2.59 trillion yuan, an increase of 13.8%; imports were 1.86 trillion yuan, an increase of 21.5%.
