China's foreign trade maintained rapid growth in the first eight months of 2026, with both exports and imports posting solid gains and import growth continuing to outpace exports, official data showed on Tuesday.
The country's total goods imports and exports rose 17.6 percent year on year to 34.78 trillion yuan (about 5.13 trillion U.S. dollars) in the January-August period, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).
The growth rate was 0.3 percentage point faster than that recorded in the first seven months of the year.
Exports increased 14.6 percent year on year to 20.17 trillion yuan, while imports expanded by 22 percent to 14.61 trillion yuan, the data revealed.
In August alone, China's goods trade totaled 4.65 trillion yuan, up 19.8 percent from a year earlier and remaining above the 4-trillion-yuan mark for a sixth consecutive month.
Exports grew 18.6 percent year on year in August, while imports rose by 21.7 percent.
"In August, China's goods trade maintained steady growth, with both exports and imports recording double-digit growth for a fourth straight month. This fully demonstrates the resilient support provided by China's complete industrial system for its foreign trade, as well as the strong impetus from the country's robust innovation capacity," said Lyu Daliang, director of the GAC's Department of Statistics and Analysis.
China's foreign trade maintains rapid growth in first 8 months
