China's July Exports Up Nearly 24% Amid AI Boom; Imports from South Korea Double

Driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, China's exports last month rose by nearly 24%, beating market expectations.

Imports of South Korean goods doubled.

China's customs authority, the General Administration of Customs, announced that July exports (in US dollars) increased by 23.9% year-on-year to reach $397.85 billion (approx. 564.9 trillion won).

While this falls short of June's export growth rate of 27.0%, it surpassed the 22.2% market forecast compiled by Reuters.

The forecast compiled by Bloomberg was 23%.

Despite the impact of typhoons and the war involving Iran, demand for Chinese high-tech goods has grown amid the global AI boom, with experts noting that exports continue to serve as China's growth engine.

Regarding China's integrated circuit (IC) exports last month, the export volume rose 1.7% from a year earlier to 32.4 billion units. However, amid soaring semiconductor prices, the export value surged 116.5% to $38.738 billion (approx. 54.8 trillion won).

Cumulative integrated circuit exports from January to July increased by 99.5%.

China's high-tech product exports grew by 40.7% over the January-July period.

State-run media Global Times previously reported that Huaqiangbei in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province—China's largest electronics market—is leading the AI export boom involving smart glasses, drones, and robots, with an average of 8,000 foreign buyers visiting daily.

While exports of automobiles (54.9%) and ships (37.9%) also increased between January and July, toy exports decreased by 9.7%, showing varying performance across industries.

China's imports last month totaled $285.35 billion (approx. 405.1 trillion won), up 27.5% from a year ago.

This fell short of June's import growth rate of 36.0% and the market consensus of 27.9% compiled by Reuters.

China's trade surplus for July stood at $112.5 billion (approx. 159.7 trillion won), decreasing slightly from $125.62 billion in June.

Breaking down trade by country, the scale of goods exported by China to South Korea last month was $18.1195 billion (approx. 25.7 trillion won), up 46.6% from a year earlier. Notably, imports of South Korean goods skyrocketed by 97.78% to reach $31.046 billion (approx. 44 trillion won).

On a cumulative basis from January to July, China's exports to South Korea rose by 33.3% and imports increased by 67.0% compared to the same period last year.

Analysts suggest that China's imports of South Korean semiconductors played a role in this trend.

China's goods exports to the United States in July amounted to $41.9344 billion (approx. 59.5 trillion won), up 17.0% from the same period last year, while imports of U.S. goods increased by 15.3% to $13.9334 billion (approx. 19.7 trillion won).

Amid US-China competition, exports of rare earths—which are currently under Chinese export controls—dropped 29.5% year-on-year last month to 4,223.5 tons, hitting a four-month low.

Reuters noted that as China's annual trade surplus is projected to exceed $1 trillion (approx. 1,417 trillion won) for the second consecutive year, concerns persist over potential trade disputes between China and major economies.

Amid booming exports, the yuan has remained strong, raising the possibility that authorities may delay announcing domestic demand stimulus measures.

(Photo: Xinhua, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.