According to data released by China Customs, in 2024, China’s total foreign trade import and export volume reached 43.8 trillion RMB, an increase of 5% compared to the previous year. Among this, the total export value reached 25.4 trillion RMB, a growth of over 7%, while the total import value was 18.4 trillion RMB, showing a year-on-year increase of 2.3%.
Last year, China's foreign trade surplus exceeded 7 trillion RMB, equivalent to approximately 992 billion USD, reaching a historical high close to 1 trillion USD.
The scale of China’s trade surplus in 2024 is enormous, and aside from the special periods during the two World Wars and the post-war phase, this is a very rare occurrence.
In the history of global trade, three countries have consecutively set records for trade surpluses: the United States, Japan, and Germany. When adjusted for annual inflation to today's USD value, the U.S. had a surplus of 130 billion USD, Japan’s was over 200 billion USD, and Germany’s surpassed 320 billion USD. China’s trade surplus of nearly 1 trillion USD has now set a new historical record, surpassing previous world records.
This data far exceeds expectations, especially given that China’s large-scale manufacturing sector accounts for 35% of global manufacturing, remaining the world’s largest for 13 consecutive years, even surpassing the combined manufacturing sectors of the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, and South Korea.
Explosive Growth in China's Emerging Industry Exports
In 2024, the structure of China’s exports also underwent a significant transformation. In the past, China’s exports were primarily dominated by clothing, furniture, and home appliances, most of which were low-end labor-intensive industries. While these sectors were large, they had low profit margins.
In 2024, China’s exports of plastic products and luggage approached 1 trillion RMB, clothing and footwear exports reached 1.4 trillion RMB, textile exports were 1 trillion RMB, and exports of furniture and toys were 760 billion RMB. These products maintained single-digit growth, with some even showing negative growth.
Additionally, exports from China’s emerging industries saw explosive growth. In 2024, chip exports totaled 1.13 trillion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 18%. Automobile and auto parts exports reached 1.5 trillion RMB, growing by 16%, and exports of automatic data processing equipment were 1.4 trillion RMB, up by 11%. Mobile phone exports reached 955.9 billion RMB, while ship exports surpassed 300 billion RMB, skyrocketing by 58%. LCD panel exports exceeded 200 billion RMB.
Among these, automobile and chip exports are particularly noteworthy. In 2024, China’s automobile exports reached 6.41 million units, a surge of 23% year-on-year, once again ranking as the world’s largest exporter. Notably, electric vehicle exports surpassed 2 million units for the first time, setting a new record. The rise of new energy vehicles has become a successful example of China’s industrial transformation and upgrading.
For the first time, chip exports surpassed mobile phones to become China’s highest single export product, breaking the 1 trillion RMB mark for two consecutive years. With the rapid progress of the domestic semiconductor industry, China is poised to continue breaking high-tech monopolies in areas such as chips, driving the development of the semiconductor sector.
