China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) announced at a press briefing hosted by the State Council Information Office on October 14 that the country's total goods trade reached 39.94 trillion yuan (roughly $5.9 trillion) in the first three quarters of 2026, up 18.8% year-on-year, continuing a trend of quarter-on-quarter acceleration seen throughout the year. Exports rose 16.4% to 23.2 trillion yuan, while imports grew faster, up 22.3% to 16.74 trillion yuan, signaling a continued recovery in domestic demand. Most notably, trade in September alone reached 5.16 trillion yuan, up 27.5% year-on-year — the first time China's monthly trade value has ever topped 5 trillion yuan, a new record.
Quarterly figures show a clear pattern of acceleration: year-on-year growth rose from 15.3% in the first quarter to 18.3% in the second and 22.3% in the third. Wang Jun, deputy head of the GAC, told reporters that the first three quarters' growth rate was the fastest for the same period in five years, summarizing the current state of foreign trade with four Chinese characters meaning "fast, new, good and strong." He said that amid a complex and volatile international environment, the resilience shown by China's foreign trade reflects continued improvement in domestic industrial and supply chains, as well as businesses' growing ability to adapt to market shifts.
On the "new growth drivers" front, combined trade in emerging product categories — industrial robots, electronic components, computer parts and electrical equipment — exceeded 10 trillion yuan, up 58.9% year-on-year, and alone contributed 11.3 percentage points to overall trade growth, making it this year's single biggest driver. Meanwhile, integrated-circuit exports surged 99.1%, underscoring China's advancing capabilities in high-end manufacturing and the semiconductor supply chain. Exports of the "new three" products — new-energy vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products — grew a combined 43.6%, continuing their strong run. Exports of China's own domestic brands rose 26.7% and now account for 24.8% of total exports, a sign that Chinese manufacturing is shifting from pure contract production toward owned brands and technology.
Feng Lin, executive director of the research and development department at credit-rating firm Oriental Jincheng, said the global boom in artificial-intelligence investment has driven strong growth in computing-related exports such as integrated circuits, while continued upgrading in Chinese manufacturing has pushed up the export share of high-tech products including new-energy vehicles and industrial robots. She noted that import growth has outpaced export growth all year, running 5.9 percentage points faster than exports in the first three quarters — a sign both that the demand potential of China's enormous domestic market is being unlocked and that policymakers are pushing for more balanced trade. Wang added that China's trade growth rate in the first three quarters ranked among the fastest of the world's major economies, underscoring the country's strengthening position in global trade.
By type of business, private enterprises remained the backbone of foreign trade. In the first three quarters, private-sector trade reached 22.73 trillion yuan, up 19.1% year-on-year and accounting for 56.9% of total trade value — the first time this figure has topped 20 trillion yuan for the same period, keeping private firms as China's largest trading entity by category. Foreign-invested enterprises' trade rose 19% to 11.69 trillion yuan, while state-owned enterprises' trade grew 17.8% to 5.46 trillion yuan. All three categories posted double-digit growth, suggesting the expansion rests on a broad base rather than any single type of enterprise.
On trading partners, China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road and with fellow members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and other free-trade partners reached 19.55 trillion yuan, up 30%, contributing more than 70% of the period's total trade growth. ASEAN remained China's largest trading partner, with two-way trade of 6.84 trillion yuan, up 22.7%. Trade with the European Union rose 8.4% to 4.78 trillion yuan, while trade with the United States grew just 4.1% to 3.18 trillion yuan — a markedly slower pace than the overall average, highlighting both the relatively subdued state of US-China trade at this stage and the payoff from China's efforts to diversify its export markets and reduce reliance on any single economy.
For Thai readers, the strength of China's foreign trade is mirrored directly in Thailand-China bilateral trade data. Thailand's Ministry of Commerce figures show two-way trade in the first quarter of 2026 reached 1.278 trillion baht, up 18.78% year-on-year, though Thailand's trade deficit with China widened 41% to 679.737 billion baht as import growth continued to outpace export growth. This pattern echoes the broader structure of China's own trade, where imports have grown faster than exports all year, and reflects a dynamic common across much of ASEAN's trade relationship with China.
Analysts say the "rising volume and quality" of trade in the first three quarters reflects both the continued strengthening of China's manufacturing supply chains and companies' push into new overseas markets, as well as sustained policy support for exporters, including export credit insurance and streamlined cross-border trade procedures. With major trade events such as the 140th China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) under way and China deepening economic ties with more countries and regions, industry watchers broadly expect the current pace of growth to continue for the rest of the year as domestic consumption keeps recovering, providing solid support for China's full-year growth target.
For comparison, China's total goods trade for the full year 2025 came to 45.47 trillion yuan, up just 3.8%, with exports up 6.1% to 26.99 trillion yuan and imports up only 0.5% to 18.48 trillion yuan. This year's 18.8% growth rate through the first three quarters far outpaces last year's full-year pace, with the jump in import growth especially pronounced, pointing to a strengthening recovery in domestic demand. Based on the first three quarters' export and import figures, China's goods-trade surplus came to roughly 6.46 trillion yuan, continuing to support economic growth, with the country on track to remain the world's largest goods-trading nation for a tenth consecutive year. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, with RCEP tariff cuts continuing to take effect, deepening Belt and Road cooperation, and domestic demand-boosting policies still working their way through the economy, markets are broadly optimistic that China's foreign trade will sustain double-digit growth for the full year.