Trade boom: China’s exports surge 21.8% to start 2026 – biggest gain in 4 years | South China Morning Post

China’s export growth surged in the first two months of this year, as global demand booms, while experts pointed to the likelihood of strong momentum for the rest of the year as AI-driven tech investments ramp up.

Exports jumped 21.8 per cent from a year earlier – the biggest gain in four years – to US$656.58 billion in the combined figures for January and February released by customs authorities on Tuesday.

This represented a significant acceleration from the 6.6 per cent growth recorded in December and the 5.5 per cent rise recorded for all of last year.

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China often combines trade data for the first two months of the year to smooth out distortions caused by the Chinese New Year holiday period – which began in January last year and took place in February this year – and to represent underlying trends more consistently.

But economists said the holiday impact could not fully account for the surprisingly strong data seen in the first two months.

The surge is “mainly a reflection of strong global demand, especially for tech products, which are central to many economies”, said Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie Group, but “whether the momentum lasts will depend largely on how long the AI-driven tech boom continues”.