The launch of the return leg of the ASEAN Express service in Duisburg, Germany, June 21, 2025. Photo: Xinhua

China's import and export volume with ASEAN countries hit a record high in the first eight months, official data showed on Tuesday, highlighting ever- closer trade and economic relations with the region. 

China's total import and export value with ASEAN reached 4.93 trillion yuan ($684.7 billion) in the first eight months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 9.7 percent, hitting a record high for the same period,news portal chinanews.com reported on Tuesday, citing data from China's General Administration of Customs (GAC).

The portion of the bilateral trade accounts for 16.7 percent of China's total foreign trade during this period, GAC said.

The data came at the heels of the coming 22nd China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO), which is scheduled to take place in Nanning, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from September 17 to 21, under the theme of "Digital Intelligence and Innovation Empower Development - Leveraging China-ASEAN FTA 3.0 New Opportunities For An Even Closer China-ASEAN Community With A Shared Future," according to the official website of CAEXPO. 

The bilateral trade between China and ASEAN in recent years has kept on expanding, with the two sides maintaining their status as each other's largest trading partners for five consecutive years. 

According to customs statistics, trade between China and ASEAN has grown from over 870 billion yuan in 2004, when the first China-ASEAN Expo was held, to nearly 7 trillion yuan in 2024, representing a seven-fold increase and marking nine consecutive years of growth.

Agricultural cooperation between China and ASEAN has continued to deepen, with increasing market openness accelerating the complementary advantages in agricultural trade. 

ASEAN has remained China's largest agricultural trading partner for eight consecutive years. In the first eight months of this year, China's agricultural imports and exports with ASEAN reached 290.6 billion yuan, up 9.7 percent year-on-year, accounting for 20.1 percent of China's total agricultural trade. 

ASEAN remains China's largest source of imports for dried and fresh fruits, edible oils, cassava, and cassava starch, among other agricultural produce. During the same period, China's exports of specialty agricultural products such as feathers, down, and animal feed to ASEAN saw double-digit growth.

Meanwhile, manufacturing cooperation between China and ASEAN has become increasingly close, driving rapid growth in the import and export of related products. 

In the first eight months of this year, manufactured goods accounted for over 90 percent of China's trade with ASEAN. Exports of machine tools and auto parts to ASEAN increased by 56.1 percent and 22 percent year-on-year, respectively, while imports of computer components and printed circuits from ASEAN rose by 47.4 percent and 22.2 percent, respectively.

Asked about China's expectations for the expo, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Tuesday that China stands ready to give full play to the expo to build consensus on safeguarding multilateralism and free trade, achieve higher levels of mutual benefit and win-win results, and promote the building of a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

Global Times