Several of China’s major manufacturing hubs have reported robust foreign trade performance for the first nine months of the year, underscoring the resilience and competitiveness of the nation’s export engine. Economists said the upbeat figures highlight how both traditional industrial centers and emerging regions are contributing to the steady momentum of China’s trade growth.
In Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, total foreign trade reached 581.98 billion yuan ($81.6 billion) from January to September, up 12.3 percent year-on-year, outperforming the national average by 8.3 percentage points. Exports rose 10.6 percent and imports climbed 16.2 percent, according to an announcement from the local government.
Neighboring Sichuan Province also set a new record, with total foreign trade reaching 776.79 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.6 percent, driven by a 5.8 percent rise in exports and a slight 0.6 percent gain in imports, local customs data showed.
Further south, Guangdong Province — long recognized as the heart of China’s manufacturing and trade — recorded total foreign trade of 7.02 trillion yuan, up 3.8 percent from a year earlier, accounting for nearly 21 percent of the national total. Exports increased by 1.4 percent while imports surged 8.2 percent.
Other key coastal provinces also demonstrated strong trade growth. In East China, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui saw export increases of 10.4 percent, 8.3 percent, and 15.9 percent, respectively — all exceeding the national average of 7.1 percent, according to a report by The Paper.
The Yangtze River Delta region, encompassing these three provinces, remains a powerhouse for China’s foreign trade, accounting for roughly one-third of the national total.
“China’s strong export capacity can be seen across multiple regions,” said Wang Peng, associate researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences. “While economic heavyweights continue to lead, new regional growth engines are emerging rapidly.”
In China’s western region, total foreign trade reached 3.21 trillion yuan, up 10.2 percent year-on-year, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC). Analysts attributed this surge to the rapid rise of new industries, the country’s broader industrial upgrading, and the expansion of strategic trade routes such as the New Western Land-Sea Corridor and the China-Europe freight train network.
Despite global uncertainties and ongoing China-US trade frictions, Chinese exporters have shown remarkable adaptability. Many firms are diversifying their export markets and refining product designs to suit different regions.
A manager at a Zhejiang-based trading company in Yiwu — the world’s largest wholesale hub for small commodities — said her business has faced longer shipping cycles for Halloween products due to trade tensions with the US. “Our sales to the US have inevitably declined,” she said, “but we’re compensating by developing new designs tailored to European buyers. There’s always room to grow.”
Nationwide, China’s total goods imports and exports for the first nine months stood at 33.61 trillion yuan, an increase of 4 percent year-on-year, GAC data showed.
Trade with Belt and Road partner countries reached 17.37 trillion yuan, up 6.2 percent. Commerce with ASEAN, Latin America, Africa, and Central Asia grew 9.6 percent, 3.9 percent, 19.5 percent, and 16.7 percent, respectively.
These results highlight China’s continued strength as a global trade powerhouse and its growing ability to sustain export momentum despite global headwinds.
