Shanghai's foreign trade maintained steady growth in the first five months of 2025 — with private enterprises playing an increasingly prominent role, according to data released by Shanghai Customs.

From January to May, the value of the city’s total imports and exports hit 1.8 trillion yuan ($251.3 billion), representing a year-on-year increase of 1.8 percent.

Exports rose sharply by 11.5 percent to 787.38 billion yuan, while imports stood at 994.6 billion yuan, down 4.8 percent year-on-year.

The pace of decline in imports, however, slowed by 2.5 percentage points compared with the first four months.

The stars of the performance were private enterprises, which were a major driver of the growth.

Their total trade value surged to 671.7 billion yuan, up a whopping 22.2 percent year-on-year, significantly outpacing the city's overall growth rate.

These enterprises made up 37.7 percent of Shanghai’s total trade and drove 7 percentage points of its overall growth.

May alone saw a robust performance, with total imports and exports reaching 377.15 billion yuan, a 4.5 percent increase year-on-year.

Exports grew by 3.5 percent, while imports climbed 5.3 percent — contributing to four consecutive months of positive growth in foreign trade.

Meanwhile, trade with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative also showed strong momentum.

In the first five months, Shanghai’s trade with these countries totaled 734.63 billion yuan — up 11.4 percent year-on-year and accounting for over 40 percent of the city’s total foreign trade.

Most notably, trade with Eastern Europe and Africa increased by more than 20 percent.

In terms of product categories, exports of electromechanical products continued to perform strongly, exceeding 100 billion yuan for the third consecutive month.

Of these, the export value of integrated circuits reached 74.4 billion yuan, up 4.5 percent, while laptop exports totaled 21.87 billion yuan, up 1.6 percent.

Elsewhere, there was also a marked uptick in consumer goods imports, highlighting robust domestic demand.

Meat imports increased by 8.9 percent, fresh and dried fruits by 2.4 percent and dairy products by 24.3 percent.

Imports of industrial goods also surged, reflecting strong industrial activity.

Imports of rubber, aircraft components, audio and video equipment and parts, as well as industrial robots grew by 59.6 percent, 29.9 percent, 18.2 percent and 23.1 percent, respectively.

Source: thepaper.cn