Chinese exports to major industrial centres in Southeast Asia rose by double-digit percentages in the first five months of the year to satisfy growing consumer markets, feed offshore factory investments and offset losses from high US tariffs.
Shipments to factory-magnet Vietnam increased by 18.8 per cent from January to May, compared with the same period in 2024, according to official data released on Monday. Meanwhile, exports to Thailand grew by 20.9 per cent, and Indonesia took 16.8 per cent more shipments from China. The global increase in Chinese exports was 6 per cent.
Pressured by import tariffs imposed by the US, Chinese manufacturers are shipping more to factory sites in nearby Southeast Asia to make finished goods for sale locally or in Western countries – including the US itself, according to analysts.
“Exports are being diversified, bit by bit, and Southeast Asian countries are becoming more and more important trading partners,” said Zhao Xijun, a finance professor at Renmin University in Beijing. “Economic and investment relations are becoming ever closer.”
Thailand and Vietnam are particularly known for factories, some invested in by China, that make a range of items for re-export – cars and smartphones, for example.
While some exports may be transshipped from China via Southeast Asia to avoid US tariffs, analysts said, factories often inject enough local content into goods from China to declare any re-exports as made in Vietnam, Thailand or Indonesia.
