Guangdong achieved dual growth in the number of newly established foreign enterprises and actual utilized foreign capital in 2025, defying global economic and trade headwinds, according to the Guangdong Provincial Commerce Work Conference held in the capital city of Guangzhou on January 19.
In 2025, Guangdong witnessed the establishment of 36,000 new foreign-funded enterprises, a year-on-year increase of 38.7%, while actual utilized foreign capital reached 112.66 billion yuan, an increase of 11.3%.
Guangzhou at night
Two-way investment also became more balanced, with the cumulative total bilateral investment with foreign countries exceeding $200 billion, ranking first nationwide.
Huizhou China-ROK Industrial Park in Guangdong
In foreign trade, Guangdong further solidified its position as China's top province in import and export volume.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), the province's total goods import and export value surpassed two major thresholds of 8 trillion yuan and 9 trillion yuan, maintaining the largest total in China for 40 consecutive years, with an average annual growth rate of 6%.
In 2025 alone, Guangdong's import and export volume reached 9.49 trillion yuan, growing by 4.4% year-on-year, contributing 24.1% to China's national foreign trade growth—the highest among all Chinese provinces.
Reporter | Huang Xinyi, Jin Zi (Intern)
Photo | Nanfang Plus
Editor | Hu Nan, James Campion, Shen He
