China's sci-tech, advanced-manufacturing hub Shenzhen sees booming trade

SHENZHEN - Shenzhen, a vibrant sci-tech and advanced-manufacturing hub in South China's Guangdong province, has seen trade volume reaching 2.2 trillion yuan ($308 billion) in the first half of this year, marking a year-on-year increase of 31.7 percent and accounting for 10.4 percent of China's total, according to Shenzhen Customs.

Products made in Shenzhen have been capturing global attention of late, including some that featured in a series of events at the 2024 Paris Olympics Games.

Before the opening of the Games, more than a thousand drones manufactured by Shenzhen HighGreat Innovation Technology Development Co Ltd lit up the night sky in Paris with cold fireworks, displaying symbols such as the Olympic rings and a torchbearer.

Over 180 passenger-boarding passages produced by Shenzhen-based airport-support company CIMC Tianda have been ensuring the smooth and safe transportation of delegations from around the globe during the games.

"The Olympics present a new opportunity for our company to further expand its global market presence," said Zheng Zuhua, general manager of CIMC Tianda, which has delivered nearly 10,000 passenger-boarding passages in 89 countries and regions across the globe.

Shenzhen's robust manufacturing sector is the backbone of its trade advantage. In the first six months of this year, Shenzhen's export volume of electrical and mechanical products reached 948.9 billion yuan, up 21.4 percent year-on-year.

While Shenzhen also saw trade growth in the burgeoning new energy products. The city's export volume of new energy vehicles increased 51.7 percent to 12.87 billion yuan, and that of photovoltaic (PV) products surged 81.6 percent to 2.48 billion yuan.

"In the automobile industry, the electrification transformation continues to drive in the fast lane, and the intelligent transformation has begun to speed up." said He Long, vice-president of BYD, China's leading EV manufacturer. "The development of new energy vehicles will run even faster."

Skyworth Group, a home appliance manufacturer headquartered in Shenzhen, reported a turnover of 69 billion yuan in 2023, one-third of which was sourced from new energy products.

"Expanding overseas is a key direction for our new energy business in 2024," said Fan Ruiwu, head of Shenzhen Skyworth Photovoltaic Technology, a subsidiary of Skyworth Group.

"In the European market, we are mainly engaging in overall residential PV engineering business, providing local people with comprehensive solutions, and in other markets, we mainly focus on exporting PV modules, inverters and energy-storage products," he said.

The volume and variety of goods transported via the China-Europe freight train passing through Shenzhen have increased steadily in recent years.

According to Xu Zhenkang, an official with Shenzhen Customs, through supporting operators, the freight-train route from Shenzhen to Budapest, the capital of Hungary, was resumed this year, and enterprises have been expanding their market reach further.

"With the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, freight trains have become a crucial bridge linking the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area with Europe," said Xu.