China’s economy has shown a robust growth capacity in the first half of 2025 despite the headwinds.
China’s GDP expanded 5.3 percent year-on-year in the first half to 66.05 trillion yuan ($9.21 trillion), official data showed on 15 July, defying mounting global headwinds and providing a solid footing for achieving the full-year growth target of around 5 percent.
Greater Consumer Confidence and Spending
Figures released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed China’s value-added industrial output, a gauge of activity in the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors, grew by 6.8 percent in June from a year earlier after a 5.8 percent rise in May.
In the same period, export of industrial robots grew by 55.4 percent.
China’s job market remains stable. The surveyed urban unemployment rate averaging 5.2 percent in the first half of 2025.
China’s consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge for inflation, recorded a cumulative year-on-year decline of 0.1 percent in the first half of the year. The country’s initiatives to boost consumption are translating into greater consumer confidence and spending, analysts said.
Trade with EU Rose 3.5%
China’s foreign trade gained pace, too.
According to China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC), China’s imports and exports of goods rose 2.9 percent year-on-year in the first half to 21.79 trillion yuan ($3.05 trillion), a record high for the period.
During the period, China’s exports rose 7.2 percent year-on-year to reach 13 trillion yuan, while imports fell 2.7 percent to reach 8.79 trillion yuan. The data clearly manifests the resilience of China’s foreign trade, analysts said.
High-tech product exports rose 9.2 percent year on year. Industrial robots exports rose 61.5%.
In terms of the trading partners, trade with EU rose 3.5% to reach 2.82 trillion yuan, while trade with US fell 9.3% to 2.08 trillion yuan.
Also, foreign trade enterprises have been further invigorated. During the first half of the year, China has about 628,000 foreign trade enterprises with export and imports, including 547,000 private enterprises.
The foreign trade conducted by private enterprises totaled 12.48 trillion yuan in the first half, marking a 7.3 percent year-on-year increase.
Written by Sha Liu, poster edited by Di Wang; data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics, China’s General Administration of Customs; additional reporting from Xinhua, China Daily and Ecns.cn.
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