China’s imports from Netherlands jump 32% in April despite curbs

China imported more than a billion dollars of goods from the Netherlands last month, an increase that came despite the recent imposition of controls on the sale of equipment to produce semiconductors. 

Imports from the Netherlands rose 32% last month from a year earlier to $1.4 billion, data released on Thursday showed. The breakdown of that trade won’t be released until later in the month, but it’s likely a substantial proportion of it is machinery from the Dutch company ASML Holding NV, which is used to make semiconductors. 

In some recent months more than 50% of the value of all Chinese imports from the Netherlands has been just those lithography machines, according to Bloomberg analysis of official data. 

As the US tries to restrict China’s access to cutting-edge chipmaking tools, a campaign that includes pressuring allied countries like the Netherlands to follow suit, Beijing has been buying up kit to make more mature types of semiconductors. 

China comprised almost half ASML’s sales in the first quarter, the company said last month, even after new restrictions were imposed from January.