China’s trade with 23 Middle East and North Africa countries fell by 12% to $329.3 billion during the first nine months of 2026, as the United States-Israeli war with Iran significantly depressed oil imports from the region.
Total Chinese trade imports dropped by 27% to $114.93 billion, while exports to the region slipped 1.4% to $214.35 billion, according to Chinese customs data released Tuesday.
Crude oil accounted for much of the decline. China bought 809 million barrels of crude from MENA suppliers, 38.6% less than a year earlier.
China typically imports about half of its crude oil from the Middle East, but the war has disrupted flows through the Persian Gulf, including from Iran, which had remained a supplier despite export sanctions.
China has made up for the loss by tapping its massive stockpile of crude, a move analysts have said has kept global prices relatively stable despite the war.
Brazil Edges Past Saudi Arabia
The war has caused a structural shift in China’s oil imports, the customs data show.
Brazil supplied 325 million barrels of crude in the first nine months, up 33%. That was enough to pass Saudi Arabia as China’s second-biggest oil supplier, behind Russia. Saudi oil exports dropped by 27.6% to 316 million barrels, a drop of 27.6%. In September, Brazilian imports reached 37.8 million barrels, up 21% from a year earlier. Saudi shipments fell to 12.5 million barrels, down 62%.
Iraq’s volumes fell 59%, Oman’s 42% and Kuwait’s 38%. Though recent reports suggest imports from Qatar, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates are increasing as more ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Plug-in Hybrids Lift Car Exports
Passenger cars remain one of China’s biggest exports to the region, at $15.9 billion in the first nine months, up 0.8%.
Sales picked up in the third quarter. July through September accounted for $6.8 billion, or 42.8% of the nine-month total, a sign that wartime disruption to trade in goods other than oil may be easing. September alone brought in $2.6 billion, the second-best month of the year after January.
Plug-in hybrids drove that growth. Exports of the vehicles to MENA countries rose 87%, while exports of fully electric cars fell 40% and gasoline- and diesel-powered cars fell 16%.
The United Arab Emirates is still the top buyer of Chinese electrified vehicles, a category that covers plug-in hybrids, conventional hybrids and fully electric cars, even though its purchases fell 25.3% to $3.9 billion. Saudi Arabia was next at $2.2 billion, down 9.2%. Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and Oman all bought more Chinese electrified vehicles than they did a year earlier.
Phones Lead China’s Exports to MENA
Electronics and electrical equipment remain the most popular category of Chinese imports, worth $41.8 billion, an increase of 6.2%.
Phones alone accounted for $11.7 billion, up 13.1% from last year. The UAE bought nearly half of these imports.
One sharp drop stood out: Saudi Arabia’s battery purchases fell about 74% to $379 million.
Aircraft and drone parts imports from China fell 7.7% to $37.3 million. Israel ($18.6 million) and the UAE ($7.4 million) account for about 70% of these imports, the customs data show.
More trade data can be found at MBN’s China Tracker.
