Guangdong, China's largest province for foreign trade, has bottomed out and its momentum of development shows three positive aspects: import and export trends, exports to traditional markets and actually utilized foreign investment are all above the national average.

The proportion of Guangdong's exports to China's total exports recovered to 29.4 percent in the first half of 2009 from 28.3 percent in 2008. According to customs statistics, Guangdong's total import and export value reached 257.87 billion yuan in the first half. Although this represents a drop of 20.7 percent year-on-year, its rate of decline has narrowed by 2.4 percentage points compared to that of the first quarter and was 2.8 percentage points smaller than the national average. The export of main labor-intensive products and Guangdong's general export trade all recorded positive growth.

The rate of decline of Guangdong's exports to the US, Europe and Japan was 1.6 percent, 1.6 percent and 4.3 percent smaller than the national average respectively. In January 2009, foreign capital actually utilized by Guangdong province dropped by 10.7 percent year-on-year, but the decline rate has gradually narrowed. In July, this figure increased by 0.19 percent year-on-year. The growth rate was 18.1 percentage points higher than the national average.

Last year, affected by the traditional development pattern and at the same time, by the international financial crisis, Guangdong's total volume of imports and exports dropped sharply for 8 consecutive months from November 2008, with the largest monthly decline rate reaching 31.1 percent. Foreign capital absorbed in contracts dropped by over 50 percent.

With the support of state policies, including export tax rebates, administrative measures on the deposit account system for processing trade, and prioritizing service industries targeting Hong Kong and Macao, in 2009 Guangdong's foreign trade enterprises will enjoy a cost reduction of over 30 billion yuan, and processing trade enterprises will reduce tied-up capital of 1.5 billion yuan.

In addition, Guangdong has strengthened its support to enterprises. A total of 2.9 billion yuan has been allocated from the provincial budget to help transform and upgrade processing trade enterprises, and to support exports of mechanical and electrical products, high-tech products and general export trade. Guangdong has also reduced or waived relevant taxes and fees for export enterprises.