Economic Watch: China's foreign trade sustains resilience with steady January-November growth

BEIJING, Dec. 8 (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.