plate 236 · 2025 data

Saudi imports from China now top the Group of Seven

Saudi Arabia's goods imports by origin, US$ billion, 2015 and 2025, China against all seven G7 economies combined.

Egypt and the Arab world
  1. 1. Egypt is set to outgrow Japan in 2027, then Russia
  2. 2. In 2025, Suez Canal traffic was under half its record
  3. 3. Egypt exports more fresh oranges than any other country
  4. 4. Egypt is the world's biggest wheat buyer
  5. 5. Saudi Arabia has more desalination capacity than the entire US
  6. 6. Three in four UAE residents are international migrants
  7. 7. Only America draws more new foreign projects than the UAE
  8. 8. Algeria outspends all of sub-Saharan Africa on its military
  9. 9. Women in MENA now outpace men at university
  10. 10. Dubai's airport handles more international travellers than Heathrow
  11. 11. The UAE sold more goods abroad than France in 2025
  12. 12. Oil now makes less than a third of Saudi power
  13. 13. Egypt now owes Russia more than any other government
  14. 14. Two-thirds of young Jordanian women in the workforce are jobless
  15. 15. Baghdad's mobile internet overtook Erbil's
  16. 16. Morocco climbed to second in world fertiliser exports
  17. 17. Algiers now has North Africa's fastest home internet
  18. 18. Saudi imports from China now top the Group of Seven
US$69.7 bn

Saudi imports from China in 2025, up from US$24.7 bn in 2015: nearly three times as much.

US$64.2 bn

Imports from all seven G7 economies together in 2025, flat since 2015. They still led in 2024, US$58.5 bn to 55.7 bn.

27.5%

China's share of Saudi imports in 2025, against 8.3% for the US.

Source: UN Comtrade, Saudi Arabia's reported imports by partner (all goods), 2025
the numbers & method
Saudi imports from China now top the Group of Seven. Source: UN Comtrade, Saudi Arabia's reported imports by partner (all goods), 2025.
2015 (bn)2025 (bn)
China24.769.7
G7 combined63.764.2
United States24.020.9

Claim types Fact

UN Comtrade public API, reporter Saudi Arabia (682), flow imports (CIF), commodity TOTAL, partner by country of origin, customs C00, all transport modes. US$ billion: 2015 total 174.79, China 24.65, US 23.97, Germany 12.31, Japan 9.95, France 5.46, Italy 5.29, UK 5.02, Canada 1.69 (G7 63.68). 2024 total 232.81, China 55.67, G7 58.47 (US 19.77, Germany 10.03, Japan 8.49, Italy 8.06, UK 5.47, France 4.92, Canada 1.73). 2025 total 253.29, China 69.66, G7 64.17 (US 20.92, Germany 11.20, Japan 10.19, Italy 8.22, France 6.92, UK 5.53, Canada 1.19). 2025 is the first year China tops the seven combined. G7 sums, shares and ratios are progrss calculations. Classifications: HS 2012 (2015), HS 2022 (2024, 2025). Comtrade marks these TOTAL rows as aggregates of the reported detail.

license this plate

what connects to this

003 new routes Central banks now hold more gold than Treasuries or euros 013 new routes Six of the world's ten busiest ports are in China 209 new routes Burkina Faso now sends half its exports to the UAE