Exports from China make it the world’s largest exporter, a position it has held since overtaking Germany in 2010. Most people think of it as an electronics and textile exporter, and it is, but the current export mix is broader and more industrial than that reputation suggests: cars, batteries, ships, and chemicals now sit alongside phones and computers at the top of the list. Exports from China remain the engine of its growth, though a smaller share of the economy than they were. The corresponding article on imports is here.
Exports from China reached US$3.776 trillion of goods in 2025, up 5.6% on 2024 and 15.8% of all goods exported worldwide (International Trade Centre). That is roughly US$2,700 for every one of China’s 1.41 billion people, and it is far more than China imports: the 2025 trade surplus was US$1.197 trillion, up 21.1% on the year. A surplus that large creates its own problems, covered in the balance of trade article.
Top 10 Exports from China in 2025
Electrical machinery and equipment, the category that includes smartphones, integrated circuits, batteries, and solar cells, is China’s largest export at just over US$1 trillion in 2025, but it is still only about 27% of the total. The rest of exports from China is spread across machinery, vehicles, plastics, furniture, steel, chemicals, clothing, and toys, which shows how much more there is to China’s export economy than consumer electronics.
Machinery including computers, at US$604 billion, is second and easy to overlook because most of it is industrial rather than consumer-facing. The biggest change since the mid-2010s is vehicles: at US$248 billion, cars and car parts have jumped from eighth place to third, driven by electric vehicles, and vehicle exports grew 14.9% in 2025 alone. China overtook Japan as the world’s largest car exporter in 2023.
China’s export orientation is the largest single contributor to world trade.
Plastics and plastic articles, at US$142 billion, have doubled in value since 2016 and moved from seventh to fourth. Furniture, lighting, and prefabricated buildings remain a large category at US$118 billion but fell 6.8% in 2025, the sharpest decline in the top ten, as furniture assembly moves to Vietnam and Malaysia. Iron and steel articles, organic chemicals, knitwear, toys, and optical and medical apparatus complete the list.
Clothing tells the story of where China’s economy is going. In 2016, knit and woven clothing together were China’s fourth-largest export at US$177 billion. In 2025 knitwear alone is eighth at US$82 billion and woven clothing has dropped out of the top ten, as garment production has shifted to Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, and Cambodia. China still exports more clothing than any other country, but it is now a smaller and declining share of a much larger export economy. The same shift explains why apparel, footwear, furniture, and toy exports all fell in 2025 while electronics, vehicles, and machinery grew.
The top ten exports from China and their share of total exports to all trade partners in 2025 (Source: International Trade Centre, Trade Map):
- Electrical machinery, equipment: US$1,015 billion (26.9% of total exports)
- Machinery including computers: $603.8 billion (16%)
- Vehicles: $248.3 billion (6.6%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $142 billion (3.8%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: $117.8 billion (3.1%)
- Articles of iron or steel: $107.8 billion (2.9%)
- Organic chemicals: $84.2 billion (2.2%)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $81.7 billion (2.2%)
- Toys, games: $78.4 billion (2.1%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $77.6 billion (2.1%)
At the individual product level, the largest single exports from China in 2025 were smartphones (US$216 billion), integrated circuits (US$203 billion, up 26.7%), computers (US$151 billion), cars (US$110 billion, up 22.4%), and lithium batteries (US$82 billion, up 23.2%).
The Trend in Exports from China
Two trends define exports from China now. The first is a shift up the value chain: the fastest-growing exports are integrated circuits, electric vehicles, batteries, ships, and industrial machinery, while the labour-intensive categories that built China’s export economy, clothing, footwear, furniture, and toys, are flat or declining as production moves to lower-cost countries. China is no longer the cheap-goods exporter of its reputation; it is an exporter of the components and capital goods that other countries’ factories run on.
The second trend in exports from China is a shift in customers. The United States remains the largest single market at 11.1% of Chinese exports in 2025, but shipments to the US fell 18.9% during the year under the tariffs imposed from 2025, while exports to ASEAN, the EU, Africa, and Latin America rose. Over half of China’s exports now go to other Asian countries, and trade with Belt and Road partners passed half of China’s total trade in 2025. Hong Kong, at 8.9%, remains the second-largest destination on paper because of its role as a re-export hub.
The old assumption that exports from China mean poor quality at low prices has been out of date for years. If Apple, Tesla, and every major European carmaker rely on Chinese factories, the quality is there; the question for a buyer is which factory, and that is a supplier selection problem rather than a country problem.
The quality of products carrying this label has improved beyond its reputation.
What Will Affect My Price for Exports from China?
Export VAT Rebates on Exports from China
China refunds some or all of the 13% VAT on exported goods, at rates that vary by product category and change with policy. The rebate is built into the price a factory quotes, so a cut in the rebate for your product category raises your price without anything else changing. Rebates for some categories, including certain metals and solar products, were reduced or removed in late 2024 and 2025. Ask a supplier what rebate rate their quote assumes. These rebates, and the wider subsidies to Chinese industry, are also the basis of the countervailing-duty cases the United States and the EU bring against Chinese products.
Export Duties
A short list of resource-based and semi-manufactured goods carries export duties payable at customs: 107 tariff lines under the 2026 Tariff Adjustment Plan, 68 of them at provisional rates, concentrated in ferroalloys, certain metals and ores, and other raw materials. These exist to keep domestic resources at home and rarely affect finished consumer goods.
Export Controls
Since 2025 China has used export licensing as an instrument of policy. Seven medium and heavy rare earths have required an export licence since April 2025; broader controls on rare-earth technology and on foreign-made products containing Chinese rare earths were announced in October 2025 and then suspended until 10 November 2026. If your product contains magnets, certain batteries, or specialised alloys, check whether an input is on a control list before you commit to a delivery date.
Tariffs in Your Own Market
The largest single factor in the landed price of exports from China is now the tariff the importing country applies. US tariffs on Chinese goods have changed repeatedly since 2025, and the EU applies countervailing duties on Chinese electric vehicles and anti-dumping duties across a range of products. This is the item to check first, and to recheck at the time of each order. Where a product is assembled, in China or in Vietnam or Mexico from Chinese components, is now a pricing decision.
Special Economic Zones
As covered in this article, special economic zones offer preferential tax and customs treatment to companies located in them. A supplier in an SEZ or bonded zone can often offer better pricing and simpler export processing, particularly for goods that are re-exported after processing.
Conclusion
The 2025 figures for exports from China show the country leading in far more categories than electronics, and leading most decisively in the ones that are hardest to replicate elsewhere: components, batteries, machinery, and vehicles. For a buyer that means two things. The consumer categories where China’s share is declining, clothing, furniture, toys, are the ones where a Vietnam or Bangladesh quote is worth getting alongside a Chinese one.
The component and technical categories are the ones where China’s depth is still unmatched, and where a well-chosen Chinese supplier is the safer bet. Finding the right category and the right supplier starts with understanding the sectors involved; if you would rather have that research done for you, that is what our product sourcing service is for.
