Modern industrial area in Guangzhou (photo source: GZ Today)

Guangzhou Petrochemical Corp. (photo source: GZ Today)

Yantian international container terminals

Boost of auto industry (photo source: GZ Today)

With the establishment of Guangzhou Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. in September, Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong province, became one of China's three largest automobile manufacturing bases.

Three Japanese auto giants, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. all settled down in Guangzhou. Guangzhou's annual vehicle production capacity is anticipated to hit 500,000 in number in 2006, and the municipality would become one of world-class vehicle manufacturing bases.

Like auto manufacturing, IT is also a sector with sharp development in Guangdong in recent years. More than 2,000 IT enterprises gather in the Pearl River Delta. Products, such as mobile phones and computers manufactured in Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou, with high quality and competitive price, are sold at both domestic and oversea markets. Guangdong will continue to develop its high-value-added high-tech equipment industry to face the changeable market demands.

Guangdong saw a boost in paper manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and auto manufacturing industry in 2003. The industrial output of three new major industries--Electronics and IT, machinery and household electric appliance and petrochemicals, increased 30.5% over the same period of previous year.

The industrial structure saw a balance of heavy and light industry, at 50.17: 49.83 in the year 2002, and for the first time heavy industry outdid light industry. Till the first half of this year, heavy industry has taken the leading place of Guangdong economy. The added value growth speed of heavy industry is 6.4 times faster than that of light industry.

Looking into the history, Guangdong's industry had greatly advanced, especially in the past 25 years. It developed from an insignificant agricultural province to a major industrial and export province after opening up.

Data show the changes from 1952 to 2004

In 1952, provincial industry output was only 1.57 billion Yuan, counting for 4.5% of nation's total.

In 1978, provincial industry output was 20.656 billion Yuan, counting for 4.9%of nation's total and ranking at the 7th of the nation. 

In 2002, provincial industry output hit 1.89 trillion Yuan, or 91.55 times greater than year 1978. It accounted for 14.79% of the nation's total.

In 2003, the industrial added value reached 635.81 billion Yuan, up 19.8% over the previous year. Nine major industries gained an output of 1.58 trillion Yuan, up 27.5% on a year-on-year basis.

In the first half of 2004, the industrial added value of large-scale industry hit 316.36 billion Yuan, up 23.1% over the same period of previous year. The added value growth speed of heavy industry is 6.4 times faster than that of light industry.

Three development phases

First Phase (1978-early 1990s) Mushrooming of textile industry and electronic industry

From 1978, Guangdong absorbed the textile and electronic industry which were transferred from Hong Kong, and saw the start-up of its industrialization. Guangdong and Hong Kong started their cooperation, with Guangdong serving as factory at the back and Hong Kong as shop at the front facing custom from all over the world.

Second Phase (Mid 1990s-1998) Wandering and adjusting

Hong Kong finished its manufacturing transfer and Pearl River Delta suffered a period of foreign direct investment (FDI) shortage. The competitiveness of the region's industries as garment and textile, food processing, building material and household electronic appliance was weaken because of their low R&D power and low cross-sector collaboration.

Third Phrase (1998-2004) Industry reform

Heavy industry gradually took a leading place and automobile industry developed. The percentage of industrial output of nine major industries counted the provincial total increase from 65% to 76%. Equipment industry, automobile industry and petrochemicals industry gained swift growth. 

Editor: Olivia

Copyright of Newsgd.com and all rights reserved. Reproduction of text and picture for non-commercial purposes is permitted provided that both the source and author are acknowledged.