China's robot exports have registered notable growth in the first half of this year, with industrial robot exports up 18.6 percent and surgical robot exports up 3.3 times year on year, Wang Jun, deputy head of the General Administration of Customs, said at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.
In recent years, China's robot industry has achieved leapfrog development as its exports have continuously expanded and products have been widely adopted in production and daily life around the world, Wang said.
The categories of exported robots mainly include industrial robots, surgical robots, cleaning robots and intelligent bionic robots, he said.
"We can view the robot exports in the first half of this year from three perspectives. First, China's industrial robots have undergone rapid iterations, and their competitiveness continues to improve, facilitating the intelligent transformation of the global manufacturing industry. In 2025, the export volume of industrial robots exceeded the import volume for the first time, and China became a net exporter of industrial robots. In the first half of the year, the export volume reached 6.29 billion yuan (around 927.69 million U.S. dollars), up 18.6 percent, with the robots sold to 141 countries and regions worldwide," Wang said.
"Second, China's surgical robots have gained more recognition from the international market, and China-made intelligent medical equipment is benefiting more and more patients. In the first half of the year, China exported surgical robots worth 480 million yuan, an increase of 3.3 times. The number of export markets has increased from 23 to 49," he said.
"Third, China's cleaning robots have entered many households and humanoid robots, robot dogs, bionic fish and birds and other smart bionic robots are getting into the international market at a faster pace. In the first half of the year, the total export of these two kinds of products reached 18.09 billion yuan," Wang said.
Next, China's customs authorities will closely monitor the development demands of the robot industry, continuously optimize regulatory services and enhance trade facilitation to steadily increase the intelligence content of China's foreign trade and inject Chinese impetus into the global intelligent economy, according to Wang.
China's robot exports post notable growth in H1
China's robot exports post notable growth in H1
