BEIJING: China’s exports to North Korea recorded their first year-on-year decline of 2025 in August, according to customs data released on Saturday (Sep 20).
Outbound shipments to North Korea totalled US$147.6 million last month, down 0.05 per cent from the same period a year earlier, data from China’s General Administration of Customs showed.
On a month-on-month basis, exports fell 13.4 per cent.
China remains the chief ally and economic lifeline for North Korea, especially as Pyongyang continues to face international sanctions over its nuclear weapons program.
Key Chinese exports to the isolated country in August included processed hair and wool for wig-making, soybean oil and petroleum bitumen.
The trade data was released just weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Beijing earlier this month, where he appeared alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a massive military parade, a major show of solidarity against a world order led by the West.
At their first meeting in six years, Xi said China’s commitment to develop ties with North Korea will not change “no matter how the international situation evolves”.
Kim pledged continued support for China in safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and development interests, according to North Korean state media KCNA.
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