China–Malta Trade Pulse
Imports into Malta from China were €118m in Q2 2026, up 4.8% on the same quarter of 2025. A quarterly read of Eurostat's official trade statistics for imports into Malta 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
- €118m
- Change on a year earlier
- +4.8%
- Product chapters traded
- 90
Data brief: Q2 2026
Imports into Malta from China were €118m in Q2 2026, up 4.8% (€5m) on Q2 2025.
Top 3 rising headings
- Seats, whether or not convertible into beds, and parts thereof, n.e.s. (HS 9401): €2m, up 117.4% from €1m
- Furniture and parts thereof, n.e.s. (HS 9403): €2m, up 69.6% from €1m
- Plates, sheets and strip, of copper, of a thickness of > 0,15 mm (HS 7409): €1m, up 33.3% from €1m
Top 3 falling headings
- Motor vehicles for the transport of >= 10 persons (HS 8702): €12m, down 47.7% from €24m
- Printed circuits (HS 8534): €1m, down 33.9% from €2m
- Trunks, suitcases, vanity cases, executive-cases, briefcases, school… (HS 4202): €1m, down 22.8% from €1m
Headings (HS4) worth at least €1m in both quarters.
Among these six headings, value per kg runs from €3.10 for Furniture and parts thereof, n.e.s. to €316.09 for Printed circuits. Why € per kg matters →
Cite as: Cambridge China Bridge, "China–Malta Trade Pulse", Q2 2026, https://camchinabridge.co.uk/china-eu-trade-pulse/malta/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 Malta from China were €118m in Q2 2026, up 4.8% on the same quarter of 2025.
- That is the highest Q2 total since the series starts in 2019.
- Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances was the largest chapter at €24m.
- The fastest-rising large heading was Seats, whether or not convertible into beds, and parts thereof, n.e.s., up 117.4% to €2m.
- The steepest fall was Motor vehicles for the transport of >= 10 persons, down 47.7% to €12m.
- Among the largest chapters, value per kg runs from €2.70 for Plastics and articles thereof to €39.63 for Pharmaceutical products.
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 Malta from China were €374m, up 7.5% on 2024 and up 46.4% on 2019.
| Year | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Full year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | €55m | €59m | €68m | €74m | €255m |
| 2020 | €142m | €90m | €64m | €57m | €354m |
| 2021 | €56m | €64m | €82m | €87m | €289m |
| 2022 | €89m | €83m | €108m | €88m | €367m |
| 2023 | €89m | €97m | €84m | €80m | €350m |
| 2024 | €89m | €87m | €89m | €83m | €348m |
| 2025 | €84m | €113m | €97m | €80m | €374m |
| 2026 | €91m | €118m | – | – | – |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 84 | Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances | €24m | +26.2% | €6.63 |
| 85 | Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof | €17m | −2.6% | €7.81 |
| 87 | Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock, and parts and… | €15m | −42.6% | €20.23 |
| 94 | Furniture | €7m | +61.2% | €4.95 |
| 29 | Organic chemicals | €7m | +13.5% | €5.60 |
| 39 | Plastics and articles thereof | €6m | +14.1% | €2.70 |
| 30 | Pharmaceutical products | €4m | +373.3% | €39.63 |
| 61 | Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted | €3m | −16.5% | €9.40 |
| 73 | Articles of iron or steel | €3m | +16.2% | €3.70 |
| 62 | Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted | €3m | −6.1% | €11.78 |
| 90 | Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking,… | €2m | +27.1% | €18.87 |
| 95 | Toys, games and sports requisites | €2m | +12.8% | €6.16 |
Fastest-rising headings
| Code | Product | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9401 | Seats, whether or not convertible into beds, and parts thereof, n.e.s. | €2m | +117.4% |
| 9403 | Furniture and parts thereof, n.e.s. | €2m | +69.6% |
| 7409 | Plates, sheets and strip, of copper, of a thickness of > 0,15 mm | €1m | +33.3% |
| 8536 | Electrical apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits,… | €2m | +27.8% |
| 8471 | Automatic data-processing machines and units thereof | €3m | +24.4% |
| 2933 | Heterocyclic compounds with nitrogen hetero-atom(s) only | €4m | +11.8% |
| 9405 | Lamps and lighting fittings | €1m | −3.1% |
| 8501 | Electric motors and generators | €5m | −5.3% |
Steepest falls
| Code | Product | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8702 | Motor vehicles for the transport of >= 10 persons | €12m | −47.7% |
| 8534 | Printed circuits | €1m | −33.9% |
| 4202 | Trunks, suitcases, vanity cases, executive-cases, briefcases, school… | €1m | −22.8% |
| 8415 | Air conditioning machines comprising a motor-driven fan and elements… | €8m | −21.0% |
| 6204 | Women's or girls' suits, ensembles, jackets, blazers, dresses,… | €1m | −16.2% |
| 3926 | Articles of plastics and articles of other materials of heading 3901… | €2m | −10.8% |
| 8501 | Electric motors and generators | €5m | −5.3% |
| 9405 | Lamps and lighting fittings | €1m | −3.1% |
Headings (HS4) worth at least €1m 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 Malta 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%
- Belgium €10.46bn, +10.1%
- 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%
- 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 Malta, 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 Malta figures (CSV)· Download the open dataset (GitHub)
Cite as: Cambridge China Bridge, "China–Malta Trade Pulse", Q2 2026, https://camchinabridge.co.uk/china-eu-trade-pulse/malta/. 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 Malta?
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.
- WeChat: pineapplebun2000
- 07410367251
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