China–Belgium Trade Pulse
Imports into Belgium from China were €10.46bn in Q2 2026, up 10.1% on the same quarter of 2025. A quarterly read of Eurostat's official trade statistics for imports into Belgium from China, published by Cambridge China Bridge. It updates automatically when Eurostat publishes a new quarter.
Q2 2026, compared with Q2 2025
- Imports from China
- €10.46bn
- Change on a year earlier
- +10.1%
- Product chapters traded
- 96
Data brief: Q2 2026
Imports into Belgium from China were €10.46bn in Q2 2026, up 10.1% (€959m) on Q2 2025.
Top 3 rising headings
- Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals (HS 2710): €235m, up 451.3% from €43m
- Nucleic acids and their salts, whether or not chemically defined (HS 2934): €47m, up 189.9% from €16m
- Saturated acyclic monocarboxylic acids and their anhydrides, halides,… (HS 2915): €39m, up 188.7% from €13m
Top 3 falling headings
- Harvesting or threshing machinery (HS 8433): €57m, down 63.3% from €154m
- Other bars and rods of alloy steel other than stainless, angles,… (HS 7228): €18m, down 62.9% from €48m
- Antibiotics (HS 2941): €12m, down 43.6% from €21m
Headings (HS4) worth at least €10m in both quarters.
Among these six headings, value per kg runs from €0.68 for Saturated acyclic monocarboxylic acids and their anhydrides, halides,… to €289.39 for Nucleic acids and their salts, whether or not chemically defined. Why € per kg matters →
Cite as: Cambridge China Bridge, "China–Belgium Trade Pulse", Q2 2026, https://camchinabridge.co.uk/china-eu-trade-pulse/belgium/briefs/2026-q2/. Source: Eurostat (Comext, DS-045409); quarterly totals, changes and value per kg calculated by Cambridge China Bridge. Open data:https://github.com/bonoxu/camchinabridge-open-data
What stands out
- Imports into Belgium from China were €10.46bn in Q2 2026, up 10.1% on the same quarter of 2025.
- That is the highest Q2 total since the series starts in 2019.
- Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock, and parts and… was the largest chapter at €2.01bn.
- The fastest-rising large heading was Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, up 451.3% to €235m.
- The steepest fall was Harvesting or threshing machinery, down 63.3% to €57m.
- Among the largest chapters, value per kg runs from €2.11 for Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation to €31.27 for Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted.
How to read this
- Figures are imports into the member state from China as recorded by that country's customs and published by Eurostat, in euros. Goods that clear customs in one EU country and travel on to another are counted where they were declared, so a port country such as the Netherlands or Belgium records goods consumed elsewhere.
- Each quarter is the sum of three published months and is compared with the same quarter a year earlier, so seasonal patterns (Chinese New Year, the run-up to Christmas) do not show as rises or falls.
- A heading only counts as a mover when it was large in both quarters; the threshold is stated under each table.
- Value per kg is value divided by net mass. It ranks products; it is not a freight rate.
Every quarter since 2019
Across 2025 as a whole, imports into Belgium from China were €39.53bn, up 2.0% on 2024 and up 134.6% on 2019.
| Year | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Full year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | €3.99bn | €3.88bn | €4.71bn | €4.27bn | €16.85bn |
| 2020 | €4.09bn | €4.50bn | €4.90bn | €4.59bn | €18.08bn |
| 2021 | €5.19bn | €5.50bn | €5.73bn | €7.07bn | €23.48bn |
| 2022 | €9.26bn | €7.72bn | €9.68bn | €10.17bn | €36.84bn |
| 2023 | €9.99bn | €9.51bn | €8.22bn | €8.59bn | €36.31bn |
| 2024 | €8.74bn | €8.97bn | €10.45bn | €10.59bn | €38.74bn |
| 2025 | €9.53bn | €9.50bn | €10.72bn | €9.77bn | €39.53bn |
| 2026 | €10.03bn | €10.46bn | – | – | – |
Quarterly totals on the same basis as the headline figure. A full-year total appears once all four quarters are published.
The largest product chapters
| Code | Product | Value | Change | € per kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 87 | Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock, and parts and… | €2.01bn | +26.6% | €9.99 |
| 85 | Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof | €1.57bn | −3.7% | €9.78 |
| 84 | Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances | €1.20bn | −12.7% | €8.67 |
| 61 | Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted | €550m | +58.7% | €23.96 |
| 39 | Plastics and articles thereof | €528m | +6.7% | €3.66 |
| 62 | Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted | €498m | +52.9% | €31.27 |
| 94 | Furniture | €392m | +0.1% | €3.64 |
| 29 | Organic chemicals | €362m | 0.0% | €2.26 |
| 64 | Footwear, gaiters and the like | €334m | +44.6% | €23.89 |
| 95 | Toys, games and sports requisites | €261m | −8.3% | €7.50 |
| 27 | Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation | €240m | +459.3% | €2.11 |
| 90 | Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking,… | €225m | −3.1% | €25.34 |
Fastest-rising headings
| Code | Product | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2710 | Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals | €235m | +451.3% |
| 2934 | Nucleic acids and their salts, whether or not chemically defined | €47m | +189.9% |
| 2915 | Saturated acyclic monocarboxylic acids and their anhydrides, halides,… | €39m | +188.7% |
| 6114 | Special garments for professional, sporting or other purposes,… | €43m | +132.3% |
| 6112 | Track-suits, ski-suits and swimwear, knitted or crocheted | €45m | +121.2% |
| 8537 | Boards, panels, consoles, desks, cabinets and other bases, equipped… | €42m | +100.8% |
| 6206 | Women's or girls' blouses, shirts and shirt-blouses | €37m | +96.1% |
| 8501 | Electric motors and generators | €44m | +93.4% |
Steepest falls
| Code | Product | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8433 | Harvesting or threshing machinery | €57m | −63.3% |
| 7228 | Other bars and rods of alloy steel other than stainless, angles,… | €18m | −62.9% |
| 2941 | Antibiotics | €12m | −43.6% |
| 8528 | Monitors and projectors, not incorporating television reception… | €51m | −43.3% |
| 8471 | Automatic data-processing machines and units thereof | €100m | −42.9% |
| 8543 | Electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions,… | €26m | −41.2% |
| 8529 | Parts suitable for use solely or principally with transmission and… | €11m | −40.0% |
| 3824 | Prepared binders for foundry moulds or cores | €20m | −39.9% |
Headings (HS4) worth at least €10m in both quarters.
Why € per kg matters
Freight is charged on space, so low-value, bulky goods are hard to bring in by part-container load without the landed cost rising sharply, while high-value, dense goods absorb freight easily. Value per kilogram is a quick way to see which of the goods Belgium imports from China suit small trial orders and which reward full containers.
Other member states
- Ireland €2.79bn, +12.9%
- Austria €2.07bn, +34.1%
- Bulgaria €1.29bn, +49.1%
- Croatia €453m, +14.7%
- Cyprus €406m, +59.0%
- Czechia €5.31bn, −7.5%
- Denmark €2.16bn, +7.9%
- Estonia €361m, +30.5%
- Finland €1.00bn, +13.2%
- France €12.34bn, +6.4%
- Germany €27.66bn, +10.4%
- Greece €1.66bn, +0.6%
- Hungary €3.93bn, +39.2%
- Italy €15.77bn, +1.8%
- Latvia €287m, +16.0%
- Lithuania €602m, +7.3%
- Malta €118m, +4.8%
- Netherlands €28.86bn, +7.5%
- Poland €10.63bn, +22.0%
- Portugal €1.67bn, +22.4%
- Romania €2.32bn, +6.1%
- Slovakia €1.17bn, +14.9%
- Slovenia €3.43bn, +13.2%
- Spain €12.46bn, +15.4%
- Sweden €2.72bn, +1.6%
Method and sources
- Source: Eurostat, Comext database, dataset DS-045409 (EU trade since 1988 by HS2-4-6 and CN8): reporter Belgium, partner China, imports, through Eurostat's free dissemination API.
- Values are in euros as Eurostat publishes them. Quarterly totals, changes on a year earlier, rankings and value per kg are calculated by Cambridge China Bridge from the monthly figures. Chapters 99 (other products) and 00 (confidential totals) are excluded.
- Eurostat revises recent months; the page is rebuilt monthly and always shows the latest figures Eurostat has published.
- Weight-based € per kg ranks categories; it does not measure freight cost directly, which depends on volume.
Source: Eurostat. Re-use of Eurostat data is authorised provided the source is acknowledged (Eurostat copyright notice). The figures on this page are aggregated and calculated from Eurostat's monthly data by Cambridge China Bridge. Journalists and researchers may quote them with a link to this page.
Download the Belgium figures (CSV)· Download the open dataset (GitHub)
Cite as: Cambridge China Bridge, "China–Belgium Trade Pulse", Q2 2026, https://camchinabridge.co.uk/china-eu-trade-pulse/belgium/. Source: Eurostat (Comext, DS-045409); quarterly totals, changes and value per kg calculated by Cambridge China Bridge.
See also
Buying from China for a business in Belgium?
These pages report trade figures only. For a product you want to source from China, tell us what you buy and we will reply with how we would approach it.
Monthly email
What changed for UK buyers from China, and when to act
One email at the start of each month. Every figure has an official source.
- Next month's HMRC customs exchange rates: USD, EUR, CNY
- Duty, anti-dumping and UK rule changes, with the date they apply
- Chinese New Year order deadlines, before they pass
Discuss your sourcing project
Tell us the product, quantity and destination. Our own staff in China verify factories, follow production and inspect before shipment. We reply the same working day to confirm receipt and arrange next steps.
Discuss your sourcing project- WhatsAppBuying for a business? WhatsApp works too: send your company name, product, quantity and timing, and we will reply with the next steps.
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