Guangdong stays on fast track in trade growth

Guangdong's trade volume has maintained double-digit growth for five consecutive months, setting an import and export volume record of 948.19 billion yuan ($139.54 billion) in May alone — up 20.3 percent year-on-year.

Guangdong sold products offshore valued at 549.13 billion yuan, while purchasing goods from overseas valued at 399.06 billion yuan — up 8.6 percent year-on-year, with a 41.2 percent jump in May, according to a statement released by Guangdong Customs on Friday.

The positive trade performance last month helped Guangdong achieve a total trade volume of more than 4.44 trillion yuan in the first five months, up 18.8 percent year-on-year.

Guangdong's exports grew 10.8 percent year-on-year to 2.61 trillion yuan, while its imports increased faster — 32.4 percent year-on-year — totaling 1.83 trillion yuan.

Guangdong, which relies much on foreign trade to support its economic construction, registered positive year-on-year trade growth in the first five months with its top five trading partners — ASEAN (11.5 percent), Hong Kong (40.0 percent), the European Union (7.7 percent), the United States (4.1 percent) and Taiwan (2.4 percent).

Trade with Japan and South Korea surged by more than 30 percent (37.1 percent and 34.6 percent year-on-year respectively), the statement said.

With 2026 marking APEC's "China Year", Guangdong's trade with those economies rose by 18.6 percent, accounting for 65.2 percent of the province's total, it said.

Meanwhile, Guangdong's trade with Africa grew by 23.5 percent, with imports up 23.6 percent year-on-year, thanks to China's full implementation of zero-tariff measures for all African diplomatic partners starting May.

Growth of total trade climbed to 30.6 percent in May, while imports more than doubled with a year-on-year increase of 110 percent, the statement said.

As Guangdong's largest player in trade, private enterprises posted trade volume valued at 2.97 trillion yuan in the first five months — up 24.1 percent year-on-year.

This growth was 5.3 percentage points higher than the provincial average, accounting for 66.9 percent of Guangdong's total and contributing 82.2 percent to its overall trade growth.

Foreign-invested companies recorded a trade volume of 1.32 trillion yuan, a year-on-year rise of 13.3 percent, maintaining solid growth momentum.

Guangdong's imports of integrated circuits reached 709.97 billion yuan in the January-May period, surging 42.8 percent and representing 38.9 percent of the province's total imports.

Imports of computers and their components stood at 254.26 billion yuan (up 49.5 percent).

Imports of premium daily necessities jumped, including edible vegetable oil (130 percent), beef (79.9 percent), dairy products (8.4 percent) and edible aquatic products (6.9 percent).