The total value of imports and exports in Guangdong increased to 8.27 trillion RMB in 2021 from 6.3 trillion RMB in 2016, with an annual net growth of 1.2 trillion RMB and an increase of 16.7%, and the foreign investment in actual use registered 184 billion RMB, an increase of 13.6%, according to Zhang Jinsong, director general of Guangdong Department of Commerce, at a press conference on the socio-economic achievements of Guangdong held on the morning of May 12.
“Guangdong aims to create strategic pillars for the new development paradigm, especially giving full play to the unimpeded trade in urban and rural areas, trade connectivity at home and abroad, and integration of manufacturing and marketing, and focusing on the high-quality development of trade”, said Zhang.
In recent years, Guangdong made great efforts to promote digital trade. With the central government’s support to build the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) into a global leader in digital trade, Guangdong extended the use of digital technology to the whole chain of trade. 7 digital service export bases have been set up. In 2021, the total volume of digital trade export and import reached 81.23 billion USD, up by 22.7%.
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The procedures of customs clearances were further simplified and the reform of combined ports in GBA were deepened. In 2021, the import and export customs clearance time were shortened by 81% and 94% respectively compared with the year 2017, and all the core procedures in international trade are covered by “one window for all” service.
“Over the past few years, Guangdong has achieved remarkable outcomes in pressing ahead with the construction of cross-border e-commerce pilot zones, accelerating the development of market purchasing and trade, and injecting new impetus into the development of foreign trade. The total cross-border e-commerce export and import value increased from 22.8 billion RMB in 2016 to 33.1 billion RMB in 2021, with an average annual growth rate of 92.1%. And market purchasing exports have soared to 315.9 billion RMB in 2021 from 81.5 billion RMB in 2017, an average annual growth increase of 40.3%,” said Zhang.
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A pilot zone of cross-border e-commerce has been built in all 21 cities, surpassing the other provinces in the country. Covering an area of over 2 million square meters, more than 300 overseas bonded warehouses were established, and the scales of cross-border e-commerce and market purchasing both exceeded 300 billion RMB.
Furthermore, local products like consumer electronics, intelligent household electrical appliances, textiles, clothing, and decorative lighting were promoted at home and abroad as a total of 154 “Guangdong Trade Worldwide” and 110 “Guangdong Trade Nationwide” events were held in 2021, with about 43,000 local businesses participating.
The province also expedited construction of economic development zones and special customs supervision zones in the east and west wings of its Coastal Economic Belt and in Northern Ecological Development Area, with 47 bases for transformation and upgrading of national foreign trade built so far covering strategic pillar industries like new generation electronic information, bio-medicine and traditional industries like textiles, clothing, furniture and decorative lighting.
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The development of the international consumption hub in Greater Bay Area and international consumption cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen have also been sped up. 6 regional consumption centers were planned in Zhuhai, Shantou, Foshan, Shaoguan, Dongguan, and Zhanjiang and a batch of special demonstration pedestrian streets and business circles were established.
Last May, the province issued an action plan to promote the high-quality development of trade for the period during the 14th Five Year Plan (2021-2025) and laid down 10 key projects for high-quality trade development, thereby making all-out efforts to build the province into a trading powerhouse.
