On April 14, China's General Administration of Customs released its foreign trade report for the first quarter.

In Q1 2025, China's total value of imports and exports of goods reached 10.3 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.3%. Among them, exports totaled 6.13 trillion yuan, marking a robust year-on-year growth of 6.9%, while imports stood at 4.17 trillion yuan, down 6% from the previous year.

Looking at monthly performance: trade declined by 2.2% in January, remained roughly flat in February, and grew by 6% in March—showing a month-by-month rebound in the year-on-year growth rate of imports and exports.

At a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on the 14th, Vice Minister of the General Administration of Customs Wang Lingjun stated that since the beginning of this year, despite weak global economic momentum, rising trade protectionism, and persistent geopolitical tensions, China’s foreign trade has achieved steady growth in scale and a continuous improvement in quality, with four notable positive developments:

1. Increased activity among business entities.

In the first quarter, 529,000 enterprises in China engaged in import and export activities, an increase of 33,000 compared to the same period last year. Notably, the number of private enterprises hit a record high for the same period, reaching 455,000, accounting for 86.1% of all active foreign trade firms.

2. Expanded international cooperation.

Trade with traditional markets remained resilient, with significant growth in imports and exports to countries such as Germany, Spain, and the UK. The high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative continued to deepen, with trade with participating countries growing 0.9 percentage points faster than the overall rate. Notably, trade with ASEAN countries increased by 7.1%, and trade with the five Central Asian countries rose by 6.9%.

3. Optimized regional opening-up layout.

China’s central and western regions have been leveraging their unique advantages and steadily undertaking industrial transfers, further unlocking their foreign trade potential. In Q1, these regions recorded imports and exports totaling 1.84 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.7%—7.4 percentage points higher than the national average—and their share of the country’s total trade rose by 1.2 percentage points to 17.9%.

4. Increased "innovation content" in foreign trade.

With the accelerated development of new quality productive forces, a number of enterprises in the equipment manufacturing sector with strong supporting capabilities and high product performance have emerged, driving China’s foreign trade toward more innovation. In Q1, imports and exports of equipment manufacturing products rose by 7.6%, accounting for nearly half of total trade. Meanwhile, the export of trendy domestic brands and self-owned products continued to rise, growing by 10.2% and pushing their share of total exports up to 22.8%.

Despite increasing external challenges and difficulties, China’s foreign trade has maintained resilience and achieved a steady start in the first quarter.