en.Wedoany.com Reported - The General Administration of Customs of China stated at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on July 14 regarding the import and export situation for the first half of 2026 that China's robot product exports continue to expand. In the first half of the year, industrial robot exports reached 6.29 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.6%, sold to 141 countries and regions worldwide; surgical robot exports reached 480 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.3 times, with the export market expanding from 23 countries and regions in the same period of 2025 to 49; cleaning robots and intelligent bionic robots together exported 18.09 billion yuan.
Industrial robots remain a key category for China's robot products entering global manufacturing. In 2025, China's industrial robot export scale exceeded imports for the first time, making it a net exporter of industrial robots. Entering 2026, exports continued to grow, with industrial robot exports reaching 3.16 billion yuan in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 42%; by the first half of the year, exports increased to 6.29 billion yuan. Products cover automotive manufacturing, electronic assembly, metal processing, warehousing and handling, and other automated production scenarios, with overseas markets expanded to 141 countries and regions. China has also been the world's largest industrial robot market for 13 consecutive years, and the robot industry has formed a relatively complete supply system from key components, complete machine manufacturing to system integration.
The export growth of surgical robots is even more pronounced. In the first half of the year, China's surgical robot exports reached 480 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.3 times, covering 49 markets. Compared with general industrial equipment, surgical robots need to meet requirements for medical device registration, clinical application, safety control, and after-sales service. The number of export markets has nearly doubled, indicating that China's intelligent medical equipment is entering more countries and regions. The press conference did not further disclose specific product categories of surgical robots, major export destinations, or unit prices.
Cleaning robots and intelligent bionic robots constitute another major part of robot exports. After cleaning robots and intelligent bionic robots obtained independent customs tariff codes in 2026, the export scale of related products can be separately identified and counted. In the first quarter, exports of various individually listed robot products totaled 11.32 billion yuan, of which cleaning robot exports were 7.75 billion yuan, accounting for 68.5% of total robot exports in the same period. In the first half of the year, cleaning robots and intelligent bionic robots together exported 18.09 billion yuan, covering household cleaning equipment, as well as new intelligent products such as humanoid robots, robot dogs, and bionic fish and birds.
From an industrial foundation perspective, from January to May 2026, the operating revenue of China's robot enterprises above designated size exceeded 90 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.9%, with an average annual growth rate of over 20% in the past five years. Chinese enterprises have launched more than 300 types of humanoid robot products, accounting for over half of the global total; at the same time, industrial supporting facilities such as robot operating systems, simulation platforms, datasets, and pilot bases continue to improve. The simultaneous expansion of exports of industrial robots, surgical robots, cleaning robots, and intelligent bionic robots reflects not a single product growth, but rather China's robot products entering different markets including manufacturing, healthcare, household services, and consumer entertainment.
The General Administration of Customs stated that it will continue to optimize commodity statistics and customs clearance services based on the development of the robot industry and changes in international trade. With cleaning robots and intelligent bionic robots having independent tariff codes, the export scale, market distribution, and growth rates of different robot products will be more accurately recorded, which is also conducive to observing the actual progress of various robots entering the global market.
