Domestic robots achieved 35 billion yuan in overseas sales in the first eight months, with Guangdong taking the leading position.

Robot Insight reported on October 12 that the General Administration of Customs recently released China's robot export data from January to August 2026.

In the first eight months, China exported robots to 171 countries and regions, with total export value reaching 350.52 billion yuan.

Among them, China's robot export value to Germany hit 59.86 billion yuan, accounting for 17.08% of the total statistical volume, ranking first.

In terms of categories of exported robots, cleaning robots rank first with an export value of 246.26 billion yuan, accounting for 70.25% of the total.

The export growth of surgical robots is remarkable: its export value rose from 1.80 billion yuan in the same period of the previous year to 6.72 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 272.92%.

In addition, the export value of special automatic handling robots for integrated circuit factories decreased by 58.70% year on year.

Guangdong is a major province for robot exports. From January to August 2026, its robot export value reached 147.18 billion yuan, ranking first nationwide. Shanghai ranks first nationwide in surgical robot export value, while Zhejiang takes the lead nationwide in intelligent bionic robots.

In addition, China's export value to Europe, Asia and the Americas increased significantly, rising by 156.59 billion yuan, 63.14 billion yuan and 40.00 billion yuan respectively.

Robot Insight sorted out the robot export data from January to August 2026 released by the customs, and the following is a detailed analysis.

01. Cleaning Robots Account for 70% of Total Export Value, Surgical Robots Achieve Remarkable Growth

In the first eight months of 2026, the export data released by the customs covers a total of 13 robot categories.

Among these 13 categories, the category with the highest export value is cleaning robots (products with power not exceeding 1500W and equipped with a dust collection bag or other dust container with a volume not exceeding 20 liters). In the first eight months, the export value of this category reached 246.26 billion yuan, accounting for 70.25% of the total statistical volume.

Adding the 0.11 billion yuan of "other cleaning robots", the total export value of the two types of cleaning robots reached 246.37 billion yuan, accounting for 70.29% of the total.

Industrial robots for lifting, handling, loading and unloading, other multi-functional industrial robots, and unspecified industrial robots rank from the second to the fourth, with export values of 28.03 billion yuan, 20.94 billion yuan and 15.74 billion yuan respectively.

The total export value of these three categories is 64.71 billion yuan, with year-on-year growth rates of 8.63%, 15.17% and 10.88% respectively. They form the main component of exports of industry-related robots.

Some categories with relatively small export amounts show more prominent growth rates.

The export value of surgical robots increased from 1.80 billion yuan in the same period of the previous year to 6.72 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 272.92%, ranking sixth among the 13 categories.

The export values of spraying robots and collaborative robots reached 5.52 billion yuan and 6.44 billion yuan respectively, representing year-on-year increases of 70.82% and 49.31%.

In contrast, the export value of arc welding robots reached 6.48 billion yuan, which is basically the same as that of the same period last year.

In addition, two categories saw a decline in export value.

The export value of special automatic handling robots for integrated circuit factories reached 0.82 billion yuan, down 58.70% year on year; the export value of laser welding robots reached 0.80 billion yuan, down 23.52% year on year.

The most concerned intelligent bionic robots ranked fifth with an export value of 11.68 billion yuan and an export volume of 14,458 units, which marks the first time that intelligent bionic robots have been included in the statistical scope.

02. Guangdong and Jiangsu Lead in Robot Exports, Shanghai and Zhejiang Have Their Own Strengths

Robot Insight aggregated export values by the registered location of domestic consignors and consignees, and sorted out the top 10 domestic provinces and cities by robot export value from January to August 2026.

Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shanghai rank top three, with robot export values of 147.18 billion yuan, 109.58 billion yuan and 25.40 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 41.99%, 31.26% and 7.25% of the national total.

Among them, Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces together account for 73.25% of China's total robot export value.

Zhejiang and Tianjin rank fourth and fifth respectively, with export values of 15.92 billion yuan and 14.07 billion yuan.

To further analyze the robot export situation of each province, we divided the 13 categories into four major groups: cleaning robots, industry-related robots, intelligent bionic robots and surgical robots.

According to this classification, the types of robots exported by different provinces show certain differences.

Guangdong, Jiangsu and Tianjin are all dominated by cleaning robots; Shanghai is dominated by industry-related robots; the largest export category in Zhejiang is intelligent bionic robots.

The export values of cleaning robots in Guangdong and Jiangsu reached 123.46 billion yuan and 93.32 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 83.88% and 85.17% of their total robot export values.

At the same time, Guangdong and Jiangsu are also the main domestic forces for cleaning robot exports, and the two provinces account for nearly 90% of the national total cleaning robot export value.

Tianjin is also dominated by cleaning robots, which accounts for 94.03% of the local total robot export value.

The export values of industry-related robots in Guangdong and Jiangsu reached 22.36 billion yuan and 15.74 billion yuan respectively, ranking first and third in the national industry-related robot export rankings.

The main exported robot categories of Shanghai and Zhejiang are different.

The category with the highest export value in Shanghai is industry-related robots, while that in Zhejiang is intelligent bionic robots.

The export value of industry-related robots in Shanghai reached 17.74 billion yuan, accounting for 69.84% of the local total robot export value, ranking second nationwide for this category.

In addition, the export value of surgical robots in Shanghai reached 4.39 billion yuan, accounting for 65.25% of the national total surgical robot export value.

The export value of intelligent bionic robots in Zhejiang reached 7.14 billion yuan, accounting for 61.09% of the national total for this category. In terms of volume, Zhejiang exported 7,029 units of intelligent bionic robots, accounting for 48.62% of the national total export volume of this category.

03. Exports to Europe Exceed Half of Total Value, Four of Top Five Categories Are Mainly Sold to Asia

Nationally, Europe is the most important market for China's robot exports.

In the first eight months, China's robot export value to Europe reached 178.90 billion yuan, accounting for 51.04% of the total.

Asia and the Americas rank second and third, with export values of 104.58 billion yuan and 52.55 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 29.84% and 14.99% of the total.

The export values to Oceania and Africa reached 12.17 billion yuan and 2.33 billion yuan respectively.

Looking at the top five categories by export value, cleaning robots are mainly sold to Europe, while the other four categories all take Asia as their main export market.

In terms of specific data, China's export value of cleaning robots to Europe reached 151.12 billion yuan, accounting for 61.37% of the total export value of this category.

Europe is the largest market for China's cleaning robot exports.

Among the three industrial categories, the export value of other multi-functional industrial robots to Asia reached 12.09 billion yuan, accounting for 57.76% of its total export value.

The export values of industrial robots for lifting, handling, loading and unloading, and unspecified industrial robots to Asia reached 14.47 billion yuan and 7.52 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 51.63% and 47.75% of their respective total category export values.

China's export value of intelligent bionic robots to Asia reached 4.94 billion yuan, accounting for 42.32% of the total export value of this category; the export values to Europe and the Americas reached 3.27 billion yuan and 3.22 billion yuan respectively.

Compared across the 10 categories that are included in the statistics for both years, China's robot exports to all regions generally show an obvious growth trend.

From January to August 2026, China's robot export value to the Americas rose from 12.55 billion yuan to 18.65 billion yuan, the export value to Asia rose from 41.44 billion yuan to 47.04 billion yuan, and the export value to Europe rose from 22.31 billion yuan to 24.43 billion yuan.

The increment of export value to Africa and Oceania is relatively small, increasing by 0.59 billion yuan and 0.27 billion yuan respectively.

From January to August 2026, in terms of specific trade partners, Germany is the largest trade partner, with China's export value to the country reaching 59.86 billion yuan.

The United States ranks second with 27.32 billion yuan, followed by the Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, Italy and other countries.

Among the top 10 trade partners, Europe and Asia each occupy 4 seats, while the Americas and Oceania each occupy 1 seat.

However, it should be noted that this list includes all 13 categories in 2026, so the year-on-year growth rate is more prominent. If cleaning robots and intelligent bionic robots that were not included in the 2025 statistics are excluded, the growth rate will drop significantly.

In addition, after eliminating the statistical category differences between the two years, the ranking of China's robot trade partners has also changed significantly. In 2026, Vietnam will become China's largest trade partner, followed by India, the United States and Brazil, while Germany ranks