Exports increased 36.3% in September, the largest increase since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Published on October 14, 2026
Chinese exports jumped by more than a third in September, a boost for the world’s second-largest economy as it faces slowing growth.
Exports rose 36.3 percent last month from a year earlier to $447.18 billion, an acceleration from a 25 percent gain in August, according to government figures released Wednesday.
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It was the biggest monthly rise in exports since 2021, when Chinese trade figures were distorted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and strict lockdowns.
Technology-related trade led the growth, with exports of semiconductors up more than 108 percent and shipments of automatic data processing machines up almost 55 percent.
Imports rose 31 percent year-on-year, compared to 28.2 percent in August, according to figures from the General Administration of Customs.
“High-tech demand, supported by the global and domestic AI cycle, remained the main driver, while prices and China’s supply chain competitiveness in other major export categories also helped maintain momentum,” Taylor Wang, an economist at HSBC in Hong Kong, said in a note to clients.
China’s total exports in the first nine months of the year rose 21.3 percent to $3.37 trillion, while imports rose 27.5 percent to $2.43 trillion.
The gap between exports and imports in the first three quarters gave China a trade surplus of $938.1 billion.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was by far China’s largest export market, with exports rising more than 52% in September to $81.7 billion.
Exports to the European Union rose 25.3 percent in September to $60.15 billion, while shipments to the United States jumped 39.6 percent to $47.88 billion.
After decades of relying on state investment and exports to fuel its economy, China is struggling to find new paths to growth amid a declining population, property market deflation and weak domestic consumption, which contributes far less to gross domestic product (GDP) than in advanced economies.
China’s economy is expected to grow 4.5% in 2026, according to the International Monetary Fund’s latest growth outlook, which would be the slowest growth since 1990, excluding the outlier years of the COVID pandemic.
“Strong export growth is expected to keep China’s growth on track to meet its 2026 growth target of 4.5-5%,” Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING, told Al Jazeera.
“Nevertheless, growth remains quite lopsided, with national data rather weak in comparison,” Song said.
“Rebalancing growth in the medium term will be important if China is to achieve its long-term growth goals. »
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