China-Central Asia Trade Reaches Historic High in Jan-May 2025

Trade between China and Central Asian countries surged to a historic high in the first five months of 2025, reaching $39.8 billion, according to data released by China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC).

This marks the highest trade turnover ever recorded for the period, underscoring deepening economic ties between the regions, The Caspian Post reports, citing Kazinform.

In January-May this year, China’s imports and exports with the Central Asian nations - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - rose 10% on-year, reaching a new record of 39.8 billion US dollars.

In 2024, the China-Central Asia trade turnover was more than three times of the 2014 figure, hitting 94.8 billion US dollars.

According to Liu Huaqin, professor at the Institute of Europe and Eurasia of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, Kazakhstan is the largest trade partner of China in Central Asia, as both nations traded goods worth 43.82 billion US dollars last year.

Su Chang, a researcher at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said: “During over ten years, China and Kazakhstan have been successfully cooperating in logistics, infrastructure, economy and trade under the Belt and Road Initiative”.

China and Kazakhstan are currently implementing new projects in the field of production capacities, successfully promoting tourist cooperation. The countries strive for mutually beneficial partnerships in the high-tech sector. The Chinese-Kazakh relations embarked on a new "golden 30 years," with promising development prospects, said Su Chang.