In 2021, the added value of Guangdong's manufacturing industry exceeded RMB 4 trillion. The scale is second only to the U.S., Japan, and Germany.
Why is Guangdong a fertile land for manufacturing investment?
On December 21, Tu Gaokun, Head of the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Guangdong Province revealed the "knowhows" with three keywords at the 2022 Global Investment Promotion Conference for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).
World-class supporting "basics" for production
Guangdong boasts a robust industrial system, possessing all of the 31 major categories of national economic industries in the manufacturing industry. The production of 5G mobile phones, air conditioners, refrigerators, rice cookers, microwave ovens, etc. ranks first in the world. The output of air conditioners accounts for about 40% of the global output. The output of industrial robots occupies about 40% in China. One of every three mobile phones sold in the world is made in Guangdong.
According to Tu, the province's industrial clusters are well-developed. The annual revenue of seven industrial clusters, including new electronic information, modern light and textile industry, advanced materials, green petrochemicals, modern agriculture and food, smart home appliances, software and information services, is above RMB 1 trillion. The scale of the automotive industry cluster will also reach RMB 1 trillion this year.
Statistically, more than 350 companies of Fortune Global 500 have invested in Guangdong, including eight local manufacturing companies, namely Amer, Huawei, GAC Group, Midea, China Electronics Corporation, BYD, Guangzhou Phar. Holdings, and Gree.
The total number of domestic and foreign listed companies exceeds 1,100, making Guangdong the only province with more than 1,000 listed enterprises in China. There are more than 16 million entities in the province, ranking first in China.
Guangdong is also home to 65,000 manufacturing enterprises above designated size, over 60,000 high-tech companies, and 876 national-level leading enterprises that use special and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products.
In addition, Guangdong has industry-leading innovation, ranking first nationally in the regional innovation ability, comprehensive IP development, number of valid invention patents and PCT international patent applications for many years.
Tu also revealed that there are 27 million manufacturing practitioners, 8.58 million professional technicians, 17.62 million skilled personnel, 2.5 million students in higher education institutions, and 1.5 million students in secondary vocational schools and technical schools.
A number of high-standard "platforms"
Tu pointed out that Guangdong has built a number of high-standard industrial development parks, offering quality physical spaces for enterprises to invest locally.
So far, Guangdong has built 163 industrial parks above the provincial level with a total area of 123,000 hectares, including 61 economic and technological development zones, 46 high-tech industrial development zones, and 95 provincial industrial parks. These parks, equipped with complete supporting facilities, are distributed in 21 prefecture-level cities, covering all the counties.
In particular, the Guangzhou Economic &Technological Development District has ranked second nationally in an assessment on the comprehensive level of the economic development zones by the Ministry of Commerce for two consecutive years. The Shenzhen High-tech Industrial Development Zone ranked second in the comprehensive evaluation of national high-tech industrial development zones in 2021 by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Superior "environment" to support manufacturing development
In recent years, Guangdong has been rated by the World Bank as one of the "Best Places for Investment Environment", and awarded the "Province with the Best Reputation for Business Environment" in the program of "Business Environment Evaluation by 10,000 Private Enterprises in 2022".
Tu made a special mention of the province's important policies to support the development of the manufacturing industry, including "Several Policies and Measures of Guangdong Province on Accelerating the Investment and Construction of Advanced Manufacturing Projects", "Several Policies and Measures of Guangdong Province on Reducing the Cost of Manufacturing Enterprises and Supporting the Development of the Real Economy (Amendment)", and "Several Policies and Measures on Promoting High-quality Development of the Private Economy."
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the Provincial Department of Finance alone has allocated more than RMB 50 billion to support the development of advanced manufacturing. For example, for manufacturing projects with an investment of more than RMB 500 million in each region, the Provincial Department of Finance will reward the prefecture-level cities 2% of their fixed asset investment. The proportion of incentives for projects with an investment of more than RMB 10 billion is higher.
What's more, the province has intensive promotion of resources to agglomerate in the manufacturing industry, such as land use, forest use, and energy consumption. Guangdong has established a mechanism for the advance use of land for advanced manufacturing projects, and it arranges certain land area for advanced manufacturing projects every year. For major advanced manufacturing projects with an investment of over RMB 10 billion, the province makes overall plans to ensure the use of land and forests.
Tu also mentioned that the province provides high-quality tracking services for major projects and supports enterprises in Guangdong to become more competitive.
"We have been supporting corporate transformation and upgrading in the long term, and providing incentives for the purchase of equipment for their technological transformation," said Tu, "Now, the standard is that the incentive in the Pearl River Delta shall not exceed 20% of the purchase amount of new equipment for technological transformation projects and providing incentives for the purchase of equipment for their technological transformation, and it shall not exceed 30% in eastern, western and northern Guangdong.
The Provincial Department of Finance will provide a one-time subsidy for newly recognized leading companies from 2022 to 2023 that use special and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products. Those in the Pearl River Delta will receive RMB 1 million for each, and those in eastern, western and northern Guangdong will receive RMB 1.2 million for each.
Author | Monica, Abby
Poster | Lu Lu
Editor | Wing, Olivia, Steven, Jerry
