Change in monthly exports in China 2022-2024

In August 2024, the total exports recorded a year-over-year growth of 8.7 percent. Due to its effective pandemic management, China's foreign trade saw a swift recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Export industry development

In the past decade, China has been the largest exporter of goods in the world, accounting for nearly 14.4 percent of the total global merchandise exports as of 2022. The country’s exports dropped significantly the year after the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, yet reached its record growth of 31.3 percent in 2010. Chinese export growth has been decelerating as a result of the Sino-U.S. trade war between 2017 and 2020. The outbreak of the global Coronavirus pandemic, however, provided the country with a new opportunity in its export trade. That year, China recorded over 21 percent year-on-year growth in exports.

Export partners

ASEAN countries, the European Union, and the United States were China’s leading export trade partners in 2023. These regions accounted for around half of all exports from China that year. That year, China also hit another record for exports to countries along the BRI (belt-and-road initiative).