China's trade with other SCO members hit $512.4b in 2024

BEIJING -- China's trade with other Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states stood at around $512.4 billion in 2024, up 2.7 percent year-on-year, a commerce official said Wednesday.

Last year, China imported nearly $90 billion worth of crude oil, natural gas and coal from other SCO members, along with $13.66 billion worth of agricultural products, Ling Ji, vice-minister of commerce, said at a press conference.

Energy imports from other SCO members accounted for about one-fifth of China's total imports in 2024, according to Ling.

"The investment and industrial cooperation between China and other SCO member states has made steady progress in recent years," Zhang Li, another official with the Ministry of Commerce, said.

In recent years, Chinese enterprises have set up more than 3,000 companies in other member states, creating over 200,000 jobs on average each year, Zhang added.

The SCO Summit 2025 will be held from Aug 31 to Sept 1 in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin. The event will bring together leaders from more than 20 countries and heads of 10 international organizations to outline the blueprint for the bloc's development over the next decade.

Primarily born to address security concerns, the SCO has, over its 24-year development, grown into a comprehensive regional organization representing nearly half of the world's population.