Imports to China slumped 16.7% yoy to USD 143.89 billion in May 2020, following a 14.2% fall in the prior month and compared to market expectations of a 9.7% drop, and marking the steepest decline since January 2016, due to deteriorating domestic demand. There were declines in imports of aluminium (-28.6%), the lowest since February 2019, due to a fall in demand of Chinese metal. Also, imports of copper concentrate fell by 8.1% while those of coal dropped nearly 20% even as demand recovered at power plants and industrial users. Meantime, imports of iron ore rose (3.9%), amid high prices. Still, there were decreases in demand from the previous month, with iron ore falling by 9% to 87.03 million tonnes from 95.71 million tonnes. On the other hand, imports of unwrought copper increased by 20.8% yoy, but was down 5.5% from April, the lowest monthly total since last October. Meanwhile, imports of crude oil jumped 19.2% yoy, to the highest monthly level on record.

Imports in China averaged 562.78 USD HML from 1981 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 1951.34 USD HML in September of 2018 and a record low of 13.88 USD HML in February of 1983. This page provides - China Imports - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news. China Imports - data, historical chart, forecasts and calendar of releases - was last updated on July of 2020. source: General Administration of Customs

Imports in China is expected to be 1430.00 USD HML by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Imports in China to stand at 1750.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the China Imports is projected to trend around 1800.00 USD HML in 2021, according to our econometric models.

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China Imports

Actual Previous Highest Lowest Dates Unit Frequency
1438.90 1549.43 1951.34 13.88 1981 - 2020 USD HML Monthly
Current Prices, NSA


Calendar GMT Actual Previous Consensus TEForecast
2020-03-07 03:00 AM Jan-Feb -4% 16.5% -15% -22.3%
2020-04-14 03:30 AM Mar -0.9% -4% -9.5% -9.6%
2020-05-07 03:00 AM Apr -14.2% -1% -12.4% -13.2%
2020-06-07 03:00 AM May -16.7% -14.2% -9.7% -10.8%
Go to our Calendar for more events. Or learn more about the Calendar API for direct access.


News Stream
China Imports Drop the Most Since 2016
Imports to China slumped 16.7% yoy to USD 143.89 billion in May 2020, following a 14.2% fall in the prior month and compared to market expectations of a 9.7% drop, and marking the steepest decline since January 2016, due to deteriorating domestic demand. There were declines in imports of aluminium (-28.6%), the lowest since February 2019, due to a fall in demand of Chinese metal. Also, imports of copper concentrate fell by 8.1% while those of coal dropped nearly 20% even as demand recovered at power plants and industrial users. Meantime, imports of iron ore rose (3.9%), amid high prices. Still, there were decreases in demand from the previous month, with iron ore falling by 9% to 87.03 million tonnes from 95.71 million tonnes. On the other hand, imports of unwrought copper increased by 20.8% yoy, but was down 5.5% from April, the lowest monthly total since last October. Meanwhile, imports of crude oil jumped 19.2% yoy, to the highest monthly level on record.
2020-06-07
China Imports Fall the Most in Over 4 Years
Imports to China tumbled 14.2 percent year-on-year to USD 154.94 billion in April 2020, the biggest decline since January 2016 and compared to market expectations of an 11.2 percent drop, due to deteriorating domestic demand and lower commodity prices. There were declines in imports of crude oil (-7.5 percent), refined products (-28.8 percent), rare earths (-0.3 percent), soybeans (-12.1 percent) and rubber (-10.4 percent). Still, there were increases in demand from the previous month, with crude imports climbing to 10.42 million barrels day (bpd) in April from 9.68 million bpd in March. Among key trade partners, imports declined from the US (-11.1 percent), South Korea (-14.5 percent), Japan (-5.1 percent) and ASEAN (-3.7 percent), but rose from Taiwan (14.3 percent) and Australia (1.0 percent).
2020-05-07
China Imports Drop at a Softer Pace
Imports to China declined 0.9 percent year-on-year to USD 165.25 billion in March 2020, compared with market expectations of a 9.5 percent drop and after a 4 percent decline in January-February combined, amid signs of improving domestic demand after lockdown restrictions were gradually lifted. Purchases were down for refined products (-27.5 percent), soybeans (-13.1 percent) and edible vegetable oil (-19.3 percent). Meanwhile, China's pork imports almost tripled to a record high after African swine fever reduced the country's pig herd. Imports also increased for crude oil (4.5 percent), unwrought copper (13 percent), coal (18.5 percent) and steel products (26.3 percent). Among the biggest trade partners, imports declined from the US (-12.6 percent), South Korea (-1.7 percent) and Australia (-1.6 percent), but were up from ASEAN (163.5 percent), Taiwan (11.4 percent) and Japan (4.8 percent). For the first three months of the year, imports dropped 2.9 percent.
2020-04-14
China Imports Fall Less than Expected
Imports from China shrank 4 percent year-on-year to USD 299.54 billion in January-February 2020 combined, compared with consensus of a 15 percent decline, on the back of massive production halt and business disruption due to the coronavirus outbreak, that lowered needs for some raw materials. Purchases of copper concentrate fell 1.2 percent to 3.77 million tonnes. Conversely, unwrought copper imports rose 7.2 percent to 846,107 tonnes. Also, purchases of crude oil grew 5.2 percent to 86.09 million tonnes, with refiners building up inventories ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, and those of natural gas grew 2.8 percent to 17.8 million tonnes. In addition, arrivals of iron ore went up 1.5 year amid higher demand at steel mills. Imports of soybean jumped 14.2% yoy on the back of higher cargoes from the US during the trade truce.
2020-03-07

China Imports
In 2019 imports to China fell 2.7 percent, the first yearly decline in three years, on weak domestic demand and persistent trade tensions with the US. Machinery and transport equipment accounted for 38 percent of total imports on the back of electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances (21 percent), road vehicles (4 percent), telecommunications and sound recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment (3 percent), and office machines and automatic data processing machines (3 percent). Other important categories were: mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (17 percent) led by petroleum, petroleum products and related materials (13 percent) and gas, natural and manufactured (3 percent); crude materials, inedible, except fuels (14 percent), such as metalliferous ores and metal scrap (9 percent); chemicals and related products (11 percent) due to organic chemicals (3 percent) and plastics in primary forms (3 percent); miscellaneous manufactured articles (7 percent); manufactured goods classified chiefly by material (7 percent); and food and live animals (4 percent). The biggest source of imports was the EU (13 percent of imports) of which Germany (5 percent) and France (2 percent), followed by South Korea, Taiwan, Japan (8 percent each), the US and Australia (6 percent each), Brazil (4 percent), Malaysia, Vietnam, Russia and Saudi Arabia (3 percent each), and Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia (2 percent each).
China Imports by Country Last Previous
European Union 34693700.00 24717800.00 USD THO Feb/20
Taiwan 14820300.00 15444800.00 USD THO May/20
South Korea 12982300.00 13534200.00 USD THO May/20
Japan 12465500.00 14743700.00 USD THO May/20
United States 9327400.00 9193400.00 USD THO May/20
Australia 8751000.00 9956200.00 USD THO May/20
Germany 7185900.00 7619800.00 USD THO May/20
Brazil 6149500.00 5681400.00 USD THO May/20
Malaysia 5279700.00 5278800.00 USD THO May/20
Vietnam 5161700.00 5499900.00 USD THO May/20
Thailand 4198500.00 4183400.00 USD THO May/20
Russia 3560100.00 4216500.00 USD THO May/20
Indonesia 2696600.00 2824200.00 USD THO May/20
Saudi Arabia 2430097.00 2066041.00 USD THO May/20
Singapore 2184800.00 2410800.00 USD THO May/20
France 1849000.00 2177800.00 USD THO May/20
Chile 1825416.00 2189672.00 USD THO May/20
Canada 1738900.00 1604100.00 USD THO May/20
United Kingdom 1501500.00 1512400.00 USD THO May/20
India 1377800.00 1095200.00 USD THO May/20
China Imports by Category Last Previous
Mechanical & Electrical Products 68109700.00 73168000.00 USD THO May/20
High-&-new-tech Products 50534800.00 53674300.00 USD THO May/20
Integrated Circuit 26607500.00 27003100.00 USD THO May/20
Fuels & Related Materials 16751075.00 18507392.00 USD THO May/20
Agricultural Products 14383300.00 14095800.00 USD THO May/20
Crude Petroleum (value) 9468600.00 10887900.00 USD THO May/20
Iron Ore & Concentrates 7609300.00 8547400.00 USD THO May/20
Iron Ores & Concentrate 7609300.00 8547400.00 USD THO May/20
Automatic Data Proc. Eq. & Components 4299100.00 4696200.00 USD THO May/20
Soybean 3599200.00 2627400.00 USD THO May/20
Measuring Instruments 3043680.00 3451637.00 USD THO May/20
Copper & Its Alloys 2760280.00 2570289.00 USD THO Dec/19
Pharmaceuticals 2701900.00 3138000.00 USD THO May/20
Liquefied Petroleum Gas 2664200.00 2890000.00 USD THO May/20
Medicinal & Pharmaceutical Products 2587743.00 2974991.00 USD THO May/20
Unwrought Copper & Copper Products 2470700.00 2663800.00 USD THO May/20
Copper Ore & Concentrate 2319000.00 2859400.00 USD THO May/20
Copper Ores & Concentrate 2319000.00 2859400.00 USD THO May/20
Iron & Steel 2232527.00 2122847.00 USD THO May/20
Parts of Motor Vehicles 1912800.00 2284700.00 USD THO May/20

United Nations Comtrade Database
Exports by Country  |   Exports by Category  |   Imports by Country  |   Imports by Category