China's foreign trade maintains rapid growth in first eight months

 China's foreign trade maintained swift 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.

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.

Both exports and imports registered double-digit growth for a fourth straight month, and import growth exceeded that of exports for a sixth successive month. ■