Published by: Jiao Dian Shi Jie

Time: 2025.12.11 7:31

Where are the highlights for the market and the product?

On December 8, the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China released the latest foreign trade report: after experiencing a decline in export growth in October, China's foreign trade exports saw an unexpected rebound in November. Compared with a year-on-year decrease of 1.1% in the previous month, the year-on-year export growth rate in November rebounded by 7.0 percentage points.

After the United States implemented tariff increases on the European Union, Vietnam and other economies in August, global trade experienced a period of severe turmoil. 

By October, the growth rate of global trade had declined significantly. At the end of October, the China-US Economic and Trade Talks achieved positive results, effectively pressing the pause button on the trade war. Not only China, but global trade as a whole also showed a noticeable rebound after October.

 However, even after the reduction of the Fentanyl Tariffs, US tariffs on China remain relatively high, at around 31.4%. Therefore, China's overall exports currently continue to show weak performance in one market is offset by strong gains in others, with export growth to the European Union and countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative accelerating significantly. The ongoing diversification of markets provides corresponding support for export growth in November.

United States

In November, China's exports to the United States fell by 28.6% year-on-year, an increase of 3.4% from the previous month's decline of 25.2%, with an absolute amount of approximately USD 33.79 billion, down from USD 34.92 billion in the previous month. 

Against the backdrop of a stable base in the same period last year, the expanded decline in China's exports to the United States may be related to production stocking and customs clearance and shipping cycles. In the future, the year-on-year decline in China's exports to the United States is expected to narrow.

European Union

China's exports growth rate to European Union reached 27.6%. 

Affected by the additional tariffs imposed by the United States, both Cross-Border Electronic-Commerce and numerous Chinese manufacturing and brand companies have increased their investment in the European market. This has been particularly evident during this year's Black Friday and Christmas season, which has also driven significant growth in China's exports to Europe.

Africa

China's exports growth rate to Africa reached 27.6%. 

Since this year, China's exports to Africa have stood out distinctly, not only with growth rates significantly higher than those to major trading partners such as ASEAN and the EU, but also with Africa's contribution to China's exports rising sharply from a negligible 0.2% last year to 1.3% this year, accounting for about one-quarter of the total export growth. 

Against the backdrop of U.S. tariff constraints and the restructuring of the global trade landscape, the African market is rapidly becoming a new growth point for China's export breakout. 

In terms of products, driven by infrastructure demand, electromechanical products account for an absolute proportion of Africa's imports from China. Among them, five categories of infrastructure-related products—machinery, electrical machinery, automobiles, ships, and steel and its products—make up an absolute share of Africa's electromechanical imports from China (about 55% in total) and have contributed 75% to the export growth to Africa since this year, serving as a core engine driving exports. 

Especially in the context of Africa accelerating its green energy transition, China’s exports of non-renewable energy products have experienced explosive growth. Among the new three items, lithium-ion batteries, solar cells, and electric vehicles have all achieved double-digit year-on-year growth. 

On a country-specific basis, Africa's main trading partners with China show significant differentiation in imports. Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Liberia, and Algeria are Africa’s top five trading partners with China, with Nigeria and Liberia serving as key growth poles. 

Furthermore, in November, China's exports to Latin America grew by 14.9%, while exports to Japan and South Korea increased by 4.3% and 1.9% year-on-year respectively, with growth rates accelerating sharply by 10.0 and 15.0 percentage points compared to the previous month. 

Currently, exports to countries involved in the Belt and Road initiative account for more than half of China's total exports, with cumulative export growth for the first 11 months reaching 10.5%.

Product

In November, most key export commodities showed impressive month-on-month performance, with Chinese traditional medicine, agricultural products, integrated circuits, auto parts and other categories achieving double-digit month-on-month growth, while only a few categories saw slight declines. 

The majority of subcategories in mechanical and electrical products exports showed signs of recovery in November, with overall year-on-year growth of 9.65%, though performance varied across different sectors. Among the subcategories, integrated circuits, automobiles and ships were the main drivers of export value growth, while exports of mobile phones, household appliances and lighting products experienced significant year-on-year declines.

 The strong growth trend of integrated circuit exports remained steady, with export value soaring by 34.17% year-on-year in November, marking eight consecutive months of over 20% year-on-year growth. Month-on-month, it rose by 10.52%, continuing its outstanding performance.

 Automobile exports maintained robust momentum, with November export value surging by 52.97% year-on-year, leading all major export commodities. The sector has sustained a year-on-year increase of over 10% for six consecutive months. Although there was a slight month-on-month decline of 3.06%, the overall growth momentum remained strong. 

Ship exports also performed well in November, with year-on-year growth of 46.38%. Although there was a minor month-on-month drop of 4.41%, the overall upward trend continued. 

Among other key commodities, fertilizer exports stood out, with year-on-year growth of 40.17% in November, albeit with a slight month-on-month fall of 16.61%. Rare earth export value grew 34.99% year-on-year, with a minor month-on-month decrease of 13.16%. 

It is also notable that expectations regarding Sino-US negotiations have contributed to the recovery of textile and apparel exports. In November, the decline in textile and apparel exports narrowed compared to the previous month, with textile exports returning to growth and apparel export declines easing.