China's exports in June increased by 27% in annual terms and reached $412.39 billion, imports increased by 36% to $286.76 billion, according to data from the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China.
The growth of exports became the maximum since the beginning of the current year, imports - since June 2021. In both cases, the historical maximum in terms of volume was recorded. Thus, the June figures exceeded market expectations: analysts on average predicted an increase in exports by 18.2%, imports by 24%.
The positive balance of China's foreign trade balance in June was $125.6 billion compared to $113.9 billion for the same period in 2025.
China's exports to Japan last month increased by 6.9%, to South Korea - by 42.6%, to the USA - by 13.9%, to Australia - by 29.8%, to the ASEAN countries - by 34.6%, to the countries of the European Union - by 18.5%.
Imports from Japan increased by 33.9%, from South Korea - by 85%, from Australia - by 65.8%, from ASEAN - by 26.8%, from EU - by 9.2%, from the USA - by 25.9%.
According to Chinese customs statistics, China's trade with the Russian Federation in the first half of 2026 increased by 25.6% - to $134.175 billion. Chinese exports to the Russian Federation increased by 28.4%, to $60.597 billion, imports from the Russian Federation - by 23.3%, to $73.578 billion. In June, the trade turnover of the two countries amounted to $24.351 billion, in particular, China's exports to the Russian Federation were $11.432 billion, imports from the Russian Federation were $12.919 billion. statistical tables of the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, and the information base of the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China notes that the source of these data is the Chinese customs.
Data on Ukraine in the operative Chinese press release is not separately highlighted among the largest directions. At the same time, according to the State Customs Service of Ukraine, China remains the largest source of Ukrainian imports: in January-June 2026, Ukraine imported $13.9 billion worth of goods from China. The largest markets for Ukrainian exports during this period were Poland, Turkey, and Italy.
In the first half of 2026, China's foreign trade surplus amounted to $575.98 billion compared to $586 billion a year earlier. Exports increased by 17.6% to $2.12 trillion, imports by 26.6% to $1.55 trillion.
By commodity category, China in June increased coal imports by 29%, natural gas by 3.7%, while oil imports fell by 41.3% to a near-decade low. China also increased foreign purchases of soybeans by 10.5%, iron ore by 6.4%, and steel by 6.6%.
Reuters attributed China's strong foreign trade performance to strong demand for products related to artificial intelligence, semiconductors and computing. At the same time, the agency notes that exports remain an important source of support for the Chinese economy amid weak domestic demand and problems in the real estate sector.
