China’s September exports rise 36.3% to $447.18 billion, their biggest monthly increase since 2021, as tech shipments lead gains

China’s exports grew 36.3% year on year in September to $447.18 billion, the largest monthly increase since 2021 and an acceleration from a 25% rise in August. The growth offers a boost to the world’s second-largest economy as it faces slowing momentum, according to figures released by the General Administration of Customs. Imports also rose, increasing 31% year on year after a 28.2% gain in August.

Technology-related trade led the export surge. Semiconductor shipments jumped more than 108%, while exports of automatic data processing machines rose nearly 55%. Taylor Wang, an economist at HSBC in Hong Kong, told clients that demand for high-tech goods, supported by a global and domestic AI upcycle, remained the main driver. China’s pricing and supply-chain competitiveness in other major export categories also helped sustain growth, Wang said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations was China’s largest export market by a wide margin. September shipments there climbed more than 52% to $81.7 billion; exports to the European Union rose 25.3%, while those to the United States increased 39.6%.

China continues to face a falling population, a deflating property market and weak domestic consumption. The International Monetary Fund projects growth of 4.5% in 2026, which would be the slowest expansion since 1990. Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING, told Al Jazeera that strong exports should keep China on track to meet its 2026 growth target of 4.5% to 5%, but cautioned that growth remains “quite unbalanced” compared with softer domestic data.