Guangdong sees healthy trade bump with ASEAN

Guangdong province reached foreign trade volume valued at more than 1.23 trillion yuan ($175.71 billion) with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the first 11 months of this year, further advancing their close economic and trade relationship.

According to a statement released by Guangdong Customs on Monday, the province's trade volume with ASEAN had year-on-year growth of 10.7 percent from January to November, fortifying ASEAN's status as Guangdong's biggest trade partner this year.

Guangdong's trade volume with Taiwan region saw 1.6 percent growth. Volume also grew with the United States (6.9 percent) and the European Union (6.4 percent) in the 11 months ending in November, the statement said.

Guangdong's trade with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, however, experienced a year-on-year drop of 9.2 percent between January and November.

ASEAN, the United States, the EU, Hong Kong and Taiwan are traditionally the top five trading partners of Guangdong, which is China's biggest foreign trader.

Guangdong's good foreign trade performance with major partners has helped the province achieve an import and export volume of more than 7.56 trillion yuan from January to November, up year-on-year by 1.3 percent and representing 19.7 percent of the country's total.

Guangdong sold products abroad valued at 4.86 trillion yuan, up year-on-year by 6.5 percent, while purchasing commodities valued at 2.7 trillion from around the world, a year-on-year reduction of 6.8 percent, the statement said.

Guangdong's grain imports had year-on-year growth of 26.2 percent, and imports of aquatic products saw a year-on-year increase of 42.3 percent. Imports of data processing equipment and components fell year-on-year by 8.3 percent, and imports of integrated circuits fell by 2.4 percent in the first 11 months.

The province's export of solar cells increased by 42.5 percent year-on-year, and lithium ion battery exports grew by 45 percent year-on-year from January to November. Its exports of electric vehicles was 3.6 times the same period last year.