From a continental perspective, China's imports accounted for 55.9% of the total 2018 value purchased from Asian countries. European trading partners accounted for 17.7% of China's imports. A smaller portion of China's imports came from North America (9.3%), Latin America (6.7%) (excluding Mexico), but including the Caribbean, Australia and other Oceania (5.7%) and Africa (4.6%).
Given China's population of 1.385 billion, its $2.135 trillion in total imports in 2018 means that each person in the Asian behemoth needs about $1,500 a year in products.
The following product categories represent the highest dollar value of China's import purchases in 2018. Also shown is each product category's percentage of overall Chinese imports.
I, motors, equipment: $521.5 billion (24.4 percent of total imports)
II, fossil fuels, including petroleum: $347.8 billion (16.3 percent)
III, machinery (including computers): $202.3 billion (9.5 percent)
IV, ores, slag, ash: $135.9 billion (6.4 percent)
v. Optical, technical, medical equipment: $102.5 billion (4.8 percent)
vi. Vehicles: $81.5 billion (3.8 percent)
vii. Plastics, plastics products: $74.9 billion (3.5 percent)
viii. Organic chemicals: $67.4 billion (3.2 percent)
ix. Gemstones Precious metals: $62 billion (2.9 percent)
X, Copper: $47.6 billion (2.2 percent)