China’s exports accelerated sharply in August, supported by strong international demand for artificial intelligence and other high-technology products, offering an important source of momentum as weak domestic activity continues to weigh on the economy.
Exports rose 25% year on year in U.S. dollar terms last month, according to customs data released Tuesday. The increase matched market expectations and marked an acceleration from July’s 23.9% growth.
Imports also remained strong, climbing 28.2% from a year earlier, compared with 27.5% growth in July. Economists had expected imports to increase by around 30%.
The latest figures underscore the growing gap between China’s resilient external trade and more subdued conditions at home. Beijing is targeting economic growth of between 4.5% and 5% this year, but efforts to revive household consumption, investment and the property sector have yet to generate sustained momentum.
“Tariff risks and the durability of the tech investment cycle are the key factors to watch to see how long this strength will persist,” said Lynn Song, ING’s Greater China chief economist.
Technology-related trade has emerged as a particularly strong contributor. During the first eight months of the year, China’s high-tech exports increased 42.9% in U.S. dollar terms. Semiconductor export values more than doubled, although chip export volumes rose only 4.1%.
Automobile exports were also significantly higher, increasing by more than 50% in both value and volume.
Zhaopeng Xing, senior China strategist at ANZ, said overseas demand for artificial intelligence products, electric vehicles, solar cells and lithium-ion batteries had helped offset disruptions caused by weather-related events.
He also noted that businesses continued accelerating shipments to the United States amid uncertainty surrounding tariffs.
AI investment is increasingly influencing China’s industrial and technology landscape. Import growth has been concentrated in technology-related products, suggesting that Chinese businesses and policymakers continue to allocate resources toward the country’s broader push to compete in advanced technologies.
“The main areas of import growth still look tied to tech products, showing China continues to spend in the ongoing tech race,” Song said.
The technology boom has also strengthened investor interest in Chinese technology companies and supported manufacturers serving the rapidly expanding AI ecosystem. Semiconductor maker CXMT, for example, reported a first-half profit in its first earnings report since its stock-market listing, helped by higher memory-chip prices and strong demand for AI computing.
However, companies dependent primarily on domestic consumption continue to face difficult conditions, including weak demand and producer-price pressures.
China’s rare-earth exports increased in volume from July to August but remained substantially below the monthly average recorded so far this year. Crude oil imports fell 23.4% year on year in volume terms.
Financial markets showed only a limited reaction to the trade figures. The yuan remained broadly unchanged, while Chinese stocks edged higher as investors looked ahead to U.S. inflation data for clues about the Federal Reserve’s future interest-rate decisions.
The strength of exports comes against a backdrop of slower economic activity inside China. Gross domestic product growth eased to 4.3% in the April-to-June quarter. More recent data showed industrial production and retail sales losing momentum in July, while fixed-asset investment declined more sharply during the first seven months of the year.
China’s property sector, which was once a major contributor to economic growth, also remains caught in a prolonged downturn.
Premier Li Qiang called in August for measures to stabilise external demand as economic growth weakened, while acknowledging inadequate domestic demand, difficulties facing businesses and greater uncertainty in the international environment.
Beijing has increased fiscal support, including an 800 billion yuan ($119.21 billion) financing tool announced to strengthen infrastructure investment. The resilience of exports, however, may reduce pressure on policymakers to introduce broader immediate measures aimed at boosting household incomes, strengthening employment and supporting the property market.
“The latest trade data do not materially strengthen the case for an imminent interest rate cut,” said Hao Zhou, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Guotai Haitong Securities.
“While further policy support cannot be ruled out, the combination of resilient external demand, steady industrial momentum, and increasingly targeted fiscal measures implies that the timing and necessity of additional monetary easing will require further observation.”
