SCIO briefing on China's imports, exports in first 3 quarters of 2025

Elephant News:

Cross-border e-commerce has become a buzzword in the economic field in recent years and has emerged as a new growth driver for foreign trade. Can you provide an update on China's cross-border e-commerce sector in the first three quarters of this year? What specific measures will customs take next to support the development of cross-border e-commerce? Thank you.

Wang Jun:

Mr. Lyu will answer your questions.

Lyu Daliang:

Thank you for your questions. Cross-border e-commerce is a topic that receives consistent attention. Under China's statistical survey system for cross-border e-commerce, surveys are conducted on a semi-annual and annual basis. Here, I would first like to share the official data on cross-border e-commerce imports and exports for the first half of the year. In the first half of this year, China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 1.37 trillion yuan, up 10.3% year on year. This accounted for 6.3% of China's total import and export value during the same period, an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared to the same period last year. Specifically, exports stood at 1.03 trillion yuan, up 11.6%, while imports totaled approximately 281.18 billion yuan, an increase of 5.5%.

As a new form of trade, cross-border e-commerce has greatly facilitated consumers both in China and abroad. In terms of exports, the main product categories are clothing, footwear, bags, jewelry and accessories, digital products and components, and household and office appliances and their parts. For imports, the main categories are cosmetics and personal care items, food and fresh produce, pharmaceuticals, health supplements and medical equipment. China's "cross-border e-commerce + industrial belt" model has delivered notable results, with strong links between key consumer markets and import destinations. Most export goods originate from Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu and Henan, while imports are primarily destined for Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Shandong.

Regarding the latest import and export figures for cross-border e-commerce, the current data is still preliminary and is provided for your reference. In the first three quarters, China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports totaled about 2.06 trillion yuan, up 6.4%. Specifically, exports stood at about 1.63 trillion yuan, up 6.6%, while imports totaled approximately 425.54 billion yuan, an increase of 5.9%.

In recent years, customs have continued to deepen reforms and introduced a series of innovative measures to promote the high-quality development of cross-border e-commerce. We have launched "inspect first, ship later" pilot programs for pre-customs clearance inspections and promoted cross-customs returns for cross-border e-commerce retail exports. We have streamlined export declaration procedures for enterprises and actively supported innovative logistics models, such as the integration of cross-border e-commerce with the China-Europe Railway Express, which has improved logistics efficiency and reduced costs for businesses. We have also optimized the tax payment model by introducing electronic tax payments, allowing cross-border e-commerce enterprises to pay their taxes online through a new electronic system, reducing the need for onsite visits. We have continuously strengthened collaborative governance with cross-border e-commerce enterprises, enhanced information sharing and data connectivity with them, and embedded customs regulatory requirements into companies' business management processes, achieving more streamlined supervision.

Moving forward, we will strengthen targeted policy promotion and business training, and help coordinate and resolve problems encountered by enterprises in customs clearance in a timely manner. We will continue to optimize cross-border e-commerce regulatory model, make customs clearance more convenient and standardized for cross-border e-commerce enterprises, and support the continuous high-quality and well-regulated development of the sector. Thank you.