Guangdong sees trade uptick since January

Guangdong province's trade with Taiwan and its foreign trade with the United States and the European Union saw rapid growth in the first five months of this year, Guangdong Customs said in a statement on Monday.

The province's import and export exchanges with the United States tallied year-on-year growth of 16.9 percent from January to May, while trade orders clinched with Taiwan and the EU logged year-on-year growth of 8.8 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively, in the first five months, the statement said.

Guangdong's foreign trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the province's biggest trading partner, grew year-on-year by 3.3 percent to hit 505.61 billion yuan ($79 billion) between January and May, it said.

ASEAN has been a foreign trade partner of Guangdong since the beginning of the year.

The province's import and export volume with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region fell year-on-year by 12.8 percent in the first five months, Customs said.

ASEAN, the United States, the EU, Hong Kong and Taiwan are traditionally the top five trading partners of Guangdong province, which is China's biggest foreign trader. Guangdong's foreign trade volume annually represents around 22 percent of the country's total.

The rapid trade growth with Taiwan, together with the United States and EU, have helped Guangdong, one of the major production bases of the world, maintain a positive year-on-year growth so far this year, the statement said.

Guangdong achieved a total foreign trade volume of 3.21 trillion yuan in the first five months this year, up year-on-year by 1.9 percent.