China’s foreign trade sustains resilience with steady January-November growth
Wire desk byline Sourced from Xinhua, Dawn, Arab News, Anadolu and Minute Mirror. Translated and abridged by the GSRRA Desk.
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 8, 2025 shows the Longtan area of Nanjing Port in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (Photo by Fang Dongxu/Xinhua)
China’s foreign trade in goods has sustained strong resilience with steady growth in the first 11 months of 2025 despite external headwinds, official data showed on Monday.
China’s total goods imports and exports in yuan-denominated terms rose to 41.21 trillion yuan (about 5.82 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first 11 months of 2025, up 3.6 percent year on year, according to the General Administration of Customs.
The growth rate remained flat compared with an increase of 3.6 percent registered in the first 10 months of the year, the data showed.
Exports led the overall expansion during the January-November period, growing 6.2 percent year on year, while imports registered an increase of 0.2 percent.
During the first 11 months, ASEAN remained China’s largest trading partner, with total bilateral trade surging 8.5 percent year on year to 6.82 trillion yuan, accounting for 16.6 percent of the country’s total foreign trade. It was followed by the European Union, with bilateral trade rising 5.4 percent year on year to 5.37 trillion yuan.
China’s trade with the United States, its third-largest trading partner, fell 16.9 percent in the first 11 months to 3.69 trillion yuan, according to the data.
Trade with Belt and Road countries increased by 6 percent year on year to 21.33 trillion yuan during the January-November period, accounting for 51.8 percent of the country’s total foreign trade.
Private enterprises demonstrated significant dynamism as the main driver of the country’s foreign trade, with their import and export values growing 7.1 percent to 23.52 trillion yuan, accounting for 57.1 percent of the nation’s total.
China’s foreign trade continued to undergo a structural shift in the first 11 months as its exports of mechanical and electrical products grew 8.8 percent, accounting for 60.9 percent of total exports, driven by strong growth in integrated circuits and automobiles.
In November alone, China’s goods imports and exports edged up 4.1 percent year on year to 3.9 trillion yuan, the data showed. ■
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 8, 2025 shows Longtan area of Nanjing Port in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (Photo by Xin Yi/Xinhua)
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 8, 2025 shows cargo ships at Lianyungang Port in Lianyungang, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (Photo by Geng Yuhe/Xinhua)
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 8, 2025 shows domestically produced vehicles for export at Yantai Port in east China’s Shandong Province. (Photo by Tang Ke/Xinhua)
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 7, 2025 shows vehicles for export at Longtan Container Terminal of Nanjing Port in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (Photo by Yang Suping/Xinhua)
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 8, 2025 shows cargo ships at Lianyungang Port in Lianyungang, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (Photo by Wang Chun/Xinhua)
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 5, 2025 shows a cargo ship docking at Lianyungang Port, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (Photo by Wang Jianmin/Xinhua)
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 8, 2025 shows a cargo ship sailing into the Yangzhou Port, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (Photo by Meng Delong/Xinhua)
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 5, 2025 shows a cargo ship loaded with vehicles for export leaving Wuhu Port, east China’s Anhui Province. (Photo by Xiao Benxiang/Xinhua)
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 8, 2025 shows cargo ships at Qianwan Port in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province. (Photo by Yu Fangping/Xinhua)
Reference Link:- https://english.news.cn/20251208/f58ca1f245a849168a822587bd3b5d06/c.html
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016, working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
