China’s H1 2026 Foreign Trade Tops 25 Trillion Yuan with Green, Smart and New Export Drivers Surging

According to General Administration of Customs official figures, China’s foreign trade delivered robust growth in the first half of 2026, with total import and export volume breaking the 25-trillion-yuan threshold for the first time in a single first-half period. The overall trade value reached 25.47 trillion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 16.9 per cent and consolidating the country’s position as the world’s largest goods trading nation.

China’s export structure continues to upgrade steadily, with products featuring green technology, intelligent manufacturing and innovative sectors accounting for a growing share of outbound shipments. Traditional strategic emerging export categories, widely known as the “three new key exports”, maintain strong growth momentum and continuously release low-carbon development potential amid global energy transition and dual-carbon advancement worldwide.

Electric vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic batteries recorded a combined export value of 819.664 billion yuan in the first six months of 2026, rising 46.1 per cent year on year and surpassing 800 billion yuan for the first time in any first-half period. Driven by booming global energy storage demand, outbound shipments of lithium-ion batteries posted a year-on-year growth of 37.6 per cent, supporting the expansion of global renewable energy deployment.

A new generation of high-end intelligent manufacturing products, referred to as the “three new advanced exports”, is emerging as a core pillar of China’s export competitiveness. Industrial robot exports reached 6.29 billion yuan in the first half of the year, up 18.6 per cent annually. Surgical robot exports hit 480 million yuan, marking a threefold year-on-year surge.

Customs authorities have launched dedicated tariff codes for cleaning robots and intelligent bionic robots to accommodate the rapid expansion of intelligent equipment trade. The two categories achieved a combined export value of 18.09 billion yuan in the first half of 2026, further enriching China’s intelligent manufacturing export portfolio.

China’s pharmaceutical innovation sector also demonstrates strong global market adaptability. Cross-border licensing deals for innovative drugs generated approximately 110 billion US dollars in transaction volume during the first six months, equivalent to 80 per cent of the full-year figure recorded in 2025 and setting a new historic high. Continuous breakthroughs in pharmaceutical research and industrialisation are strengthening the global competitiveness of China’s healthcare industry chain.

Going forward, China will further expand high-standard opening-up and optimise foreign trade structure. More resources will be channelled into green manufacturing, intelligent equipment research and biomedical innovation to foster sustained growth drivers for cross-border trade. Upgraded industrial products and innovative technologies will continue to reshape China’s global trade edge and support steady expansion of bilateral and multilateral economic and trade cooperation worldwide.