China’s leading private firms strike gold in overseas markets: survey

While many of China’s companies suffered last year amid soft domestic demand and an uncertain environment for international trade, the country’s leading private enterprises reported a double-digit increase in their overseas revenue according to a recent survey.

As ranked by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce – a state-adjacent chamber of commerce that functions as a channel between government and private business – the country’s 500 largest private firms generated a combined overseas revenue of 3.19 trillion yuan (US$445.8 billion) last year, up nearly 15 per cent from 2023.

The federation revealed the figure on Thursday in its 2025 edition of the Top 500 Private Enterprises, an annual list based on total revenue.

The top three firms on the list remained the same, with e-commerce giants JD.com and Alibaba followed by industrial conglomerate Hengli Group. The top 10, including telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies, electric vehicle maker BYD and tech leader Tencent, saw minor shifts. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

“Facing heightened external pressures and increasing internal challenges…the top 500 private firms have maintained an overall trend of steady progress, with improvements in quality, profitability and core competitiveness,” the federation noted in its report.

The assessment came amid an improved policy environment for the private sector, where, according to official data, 55 million firms contribute over half of China’s total tax revenue, 60 per cent of its gross domestic product and 80 per cent of urban jobs.

  

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