China's foreign trade grew 15 percent year on year in the first quarter, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday.

The total value of goods imports and exports reached 11.84 trillion yuan, with exports rising 11.9 percent to 6.85 trillion yuan and imports rising 19.6 percent to 4.99 trillion yuan.

For March, outbound shipments from the world's second-largest economy grew an annual ⁠2.5 percent, down from a 21.8 percent gain in the January-February period.

Shipments to the United States tumbled 26.5 percent to US$29.4 billion.

Imports rose 27.8 percent, the best performance since November 2021, compared with a 19.8 percent increase over January and February and forecasts for 11.2 percent growth.

March marks the first real test of whether enthusiasm for artificial intelligence – and the chips and servers it demands – could offset gloom unleashed by the global energy shock after Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic ⁠waterway for the world's 20 percent of oil and gas flows.

China roared into 2026 ⁠with outbound shipments far outstripping forecasts, powered by tech exports, raising the prospect it could smash last year's record US$1.2 trillion trade surplus. The Iran war casts doubts about that trajectory.

Still, Chinese producers may yet gain ground as buyers seek cheaper options, said Fred Neumann, HSBC's chief Asia economist. Decades of commodity stockpiling have also helped blunt the impact of raw-material ⁠shocks on factory gate prices, he said.

A high base is also likely to be a drag on the export figure for March, after Chinese factories rushed shipments a year earlier to beat US President Donald Trump's April 2 “Liberation Day” tariff deadline.

South Korea's exports to China – a ⁠bellwether for Chinese demand – rose 62.4 percent in March, led by a 151.4 percent surge in global semiconductor shipments on higher memory prices and robust AI-driven server demand.

March factory activity data out of China showed goods exports continued to support growth, but the war in Iran weighed on sentiment as commodity prices rose sharply, lifting input costs.

China's trade surplus came in at US$51.13 billion in March from US$214 billion over January and February. (Agencies & Xinhua)



Edited by Altis Wong