Foreign trade stays on stable growth track

China’s foreign trade will remain resilient in the second half of 2025, fueled by strong growth in high-tech exports, vibrant private sector activity and closer ties with emerging markets, government officials and exporters said on Thursday.

They noted that China’s steady export performance, particularly driven by private companies, underscores robust global demand for the country’s high-tech mechanical and electrical products, and facilitates its deeper integration into regional and global industrial chains.

China’s foreign trade grew 3.5 percent year-on-year to 25.7 trillion yuan ($3.6 trillion) in the first seven months of 2025, while its exports rose 7.3 percent year-on-year to 15.31 trillion yuan, data released on Thursday by the General Administration of Customs shows. In July alone, the country’s trade value grew 6.7 percent to 3.91 trillion yuan.

Lyu Daliang, director of the GAC’s department of statistics and analysis, said that amid a complex external environment, China’s foreign trade has maintained steady growth momentum, while its trade structure has continued to optimize, with high-tech products playing an increasingly key role in supporting overall expansion.

China’s trade of high-tech products, including high-end machine tools and electric vehicles, reached 5.1 trillion yuan from January to July, up 8.4 percent year-on-year, contributing 45.4 percent to the overall growth of foreign trade during this period.

“Since the beginning of the year, private businesses have actively responded to changes and continued to serve as a stabilizing force in China’s foreign trade,” Lyu said.

Specifically, the foreign trade value of China’s private companies amounted to 14.68 trillion yuan over the past seven months, up 7.4 percent year-on-year, accounting for 57.1 percent of the nation’s total foreign trade value, an increase of 2.1 percentage points compared with the same period last year.

Chen Bin, deputy director of the expert committee of the Beijing-based China Machinery Industry Federation, said these trends “have not only laid a solid foundation for China’s foreign trade to continue on a stable growth trajectory in the second half, but also reflect a deeper structural realignment”.

Driven by industrial upgrading and the rapid growth of the digital economy, new opportunities are emerging in sectors such as energy storage, industrial robotics and artificial intelligence-enabled manufacturing tools, Chen said, adding that these sectors are fast emerging as new engines of trade growth.

Zhou Mi, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation in Beijing, said that on the demand side, China’s strong global product presence and long-standing commitment to free trade are key factors supporting the competitiveness of its foreign trade.

Ahmed bin Sulayem, executive chairman of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre in the United Arab Emirates, said the steady growth of the Chinese economy will encourage economic and trade cooperation with Arab nations and other countries of the world in the long run.

Zhao Ping, head of the academy of the Beijing-based China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said the projected robust growth in foreign trade during the second half of the year will provide vital support for China’s broader economic stability and expansion, reinforcing its resilience amid global uncertainties.

Also on Thursday, the Ministry of Finance said the government will explore and adjust policy tools to ensure the Chinese economy maintains a stable and positive trajectory, thereby contributing to global economic development.

The ministry’s statement followed S&P Global Ratings’ affirmation of its unsolicited ‘A+’ long-term and ‘A-1’ short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on China, with a stable outlook for the long-term rating.

Zhang Yuxian, director of the department of economic forecasting at the State Information Center, warned that China-United States economic and trade frictions will continue to test the resilience of Chinese exports and the adaptability of Chinese exporters in the second half.

Despite these challenges, China retains substantial potential for optimizing its product mix and enhancing policy support, Zhang said. The country’s imports are also expected to become more diversified, providing consumers with a broader range of choices, he added.

At the company level, Chinese exporters have already taken proactive steps to adapt to external challenges.

Wang Lilong, president of Ningbo Winner Electric Appliances Co, a garden tools manufacturer based in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, said his company has enhanced product adaptability and upgraded noise-reduction solutions this year to help offset the impact of the US tariff pressures.

Data from Ningbo Customs shows that in addition to expanding business presence in emerging markets this year, the company saw the export of its products to the US, including lawn mowers and branch shredders, reach 32 million yuan between January and July, surging more than 90 percent year-on-year.

With many emerging economies accelerating their industrialization, green and digitally driven modernization, Jiangsu Shangshang Cable Group, a cable manufacturer based in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, exported products worth 420 million yuan during the January-July period, a year-on-year increase of 13.2 percent, according to Nanjing Customs.

Liu Cunyong, head of the company’s foreign trade unit, said the robust growth was mainly driven by rising demand in overseas infrastructure projects, especially in economies participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.

“We have been refining our product offerings to better align with the technical and regulatory frameworks of key markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa,” Liu said.