China’s exports slowed slightly in July from the month before but still were higher than forecast thanks to strong demand for high-tech electronics and vehicles.
Customs data released Friday showed China’s trade surplus narrowed to $112.5 billion from $125.6 billion in June.
Exports rose nearly 24% in July from a year earlier, compared with a 27% increase in June. Imports climbed 27.5% year-on-year, but that was lower than June’s jump of 36%.
Disruptions to port operations due to typhoons helped to slow trade, though the actual figures were slightly better than analysts had forecast.
“The boom in Chinese trade slowed a touch in July but the big picture is that export and import values remain elevated, helped by soaring global demand for electronics and green tech products,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a report.
The Iran war interfered with shipments of aluminum from the Middle East, leading to an increase in Chinese exports of the metal, he noted.
Trade data show China has fully transitioned from providing mostly low cost manufacturing to supplying vital machinery and components for advanced manufacturing.
China’s exports of high-tech items surged nearly 41% in January-July from the same period the year before, while shipments of vehicles, many of them electric, jumped 55%. Exports of electronics and machinery rose 26%.
Sustained demand for such goods, despite rising tariffs and other trade barriers in the U.S. and some other countries, helped push its trade surplus to a record high of nearly $1.2 trillion in 2025.
After U.S. President Donald Trump boosted tariffs on imports from China and many other countries, China’s exports to the U.S. slowed precipitously. They climbed just 2.6% year-on-year in the first seven months of this year, while imports from the U.S. grew 1.4%.
But trade issues and restrictions on China’s access to advanced technology are likely to be high on the agenda during a planned visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the U.S. next month.
In key industries such as autos, its leaders have been adjusting policies to counter price wars due to brutal competition and slack demand, while the U.S. and some other major trading partners have complained Chinese exporters are flooding global markets due to massive excess manufacturing capacity inside China.
Still, the government issued a report last week condemning what it said was the “myth of overcapacity.”
A commentary issued by the state-run Xinhua News Agency, pointed to a surge in exports of air conditioners to Europe due to skyrocketing demand during a ferocious heat wave.
“Europeans are buying these products, and for good reasons,” the Xinhua commentary said. “These products solve problems local brands often fail to address.”
The data released Friday showed exports to the European Union were up nearly 17% in January-July, while exports to Southeast Asia, which as a bloc is now China’s biggest trading partner, surged 25%.
Among other key categories, the total volume of China’s crude oil imports fell 13.2% in the first seven months of this year, though due to higher prices the value of those imports rose slightly. Imports of natural gas slipped 3% by volume and 1.6% in dollar terms.
China’s exports of strategically vital rare earths fell 10% by volume in January-July, but they jumped 58% in value.