China's October exports rise 35.2%, with AI hardware driving about 40% of the gain

Data released by China's General Administration of Customs on November 10 showed that China's exports priced in USD grew 35.2% year-on-year in October, while imports rose 41.6%, against an earlier forecast of 33.9%; the monthly trade surplus stood at $105.3 billion. Hao Zhou, chief economist at China Guotai Junan International, said the surplus "highlights the resilience and competitiveness of China's export sector even as the global trading environment turns harsher."

By category, integrated circuit exports reached $39.594 billion in October, up 137.1% year-on-year; rare earth exports were $82.2399 million, up 45%; automotive exports $19.692 billion, up 37.6%; and mobile phone exports $17.569 billion, up 13.2%. The report noted that chips and computer parts alone accounted for roughly 40% of the year-to-date increase in China's export value, a pattern it linked to a data center construction boom driving up prices for related products.

For the first ten months of the year, total goods trade reached CNY 44.81 trillion, up 20%, with exports at CNY 25.99 trillion, up 17.6%, and imports at CNY 18.82 trillion, up 23.6%. As of October, both imports and exports had posted double-digit growth for six consecutive months. The available reporting ends at the customs data release, with no official revisions or further institutional analysis published since.