The latest data released by General Administration of Customs, P. R. China shows that from January to June 2025, the total import and export value of China's goods trade exceeded CNY 20 trillion for the first time in the first half of a year, hitting a new high for the same period in history, demonstrating the strong resilience of China's economy.
Among them, imports and exports to African and Central and Eastern European countries performed particularly prominently, becoming an important engine driving growth.
Focusing on the African market, in the first half of the year, China-Africa trade volume increased by 14.4% year-on-year, with exports to Africa growing by as high as 23.0%, leading major global markets. The significant growth in China-Africa trade is mainly due to the remarkable upgrading of consumption structure in emerging economies such as Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania, which have a strong demand for high-value-added "Made in China" products like electric vehicles and photovoltaic products. In addition, the synergy between policies and industries is another major driver for the development of China-Africa trade: China's policy of implementing zero-tariff treatment for all 53 African countries that have diplomatic relations with China has facilitated African agricultural products' access to the Chinese market; while optimized cross-border payment has ensured the security of trade funds. At the same time, the China-Africa industrial cooperation model is shifting from commodity exports to localized production. The accelerated implementation of localized projects such as Nigeria's photovoltaic production lines and Tanzania's large-scale rapeseed oil factories marks the deepening of China-Africa cooperation.
Turning to the Central and Eastern European market, in the first half of the year, trade volume between China and 17 Central and Eastern European countries reached CNY 522.88 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%, with the trade index hitting a record high in June. The breakthrough in China-Central and Eastern Europe trade volume is mainly driven by China's diversified market layout strategy and the continuous upgrading of bilateral trade structure. When traditional European and American markets fluctuated due to tariff policy changes, China continued to deepen the "China-Central and Eastern European Countries Cooperation Mechanism," and has established over 20 cooperation platforms in professional fields covering the entire industrial chain including agriculture, energy, technology, and culture, achieving remarkable results in the market diversification strategy. In addition, the bilateral trade structure is continuously upgrading, mainly reflected in the significant increase in the proportion of mechanical and electrical products and high-tech products, and the decrease in the proportion of labor-intensive products. The upgrading of the trade structure not only meets the needs of domestic consumption upgrading but also helps Central and Eastern European countries avoid excessive dependence on trade with Russia and Europe.
Against the backdrop of complex and changing global economy, China's foreign trade scale has hit a new high. The outstanding performance of African and Central and Eastern European markets has strongly confirmed the success of deepened "Belt and Road" cooperation and market diversification strategy, injecting stable momentum into global trade.