The foreign trade volume of the nine mainland cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) has exceeded the threshold of 35 trillion RMB since the introduction of Outline Development Plan for the GBA five years ago.
According to the Guangdong Sub-administration of the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China (GACC), the imports and exports of the nine mainland cities in the GBA registered 37.34 trillion RMB from 2019 to 2023, which accounted for more than 95 percent of Guangdong's total volume during the same period.
Over the past five years, the continuous growth of the export of lithium batteries, electrical vehicles and solar cells has diversified the development of foreign trade in the nine cities. Notably, the total export of these products reached 404.71 billion RMB from 2019 to 2023.
Among them, Shenzhen played a leading role, accounting for nearly 50 percent every year and 45.8 percent of the total during the five-year period.
Three major tech-intensive green products grew rapidly
Featuring high technology, high-added value and green concept, the top three export products have been the new growth driver of Guangdong’s foreign trade.
With a complete industrial chain and strong supply capacity, Guangdong has not only showed its strength in advanced manufacturing but also supported the green transformation in the field of foreign trade.
According to the 2024 Guangdong government work report, the province further sped up the development of new energy and high-end equipment manufacturing, forming new trillion-yuan and 500 billion-yuan industrial clusters in 2023. The industrial policy support is another factor contributing to the rapid growth of the high-tech exports in the new energy sector.
And in recent years, the field of new energy, green and low carbon has been at the spotlight around the world. Booming global demand has been driving the growth of these products in China, particularly in Guangdong, the country’s manufacturing heartland and leading foreign trade province.
In 2023, the province’s new energy vehicles (NEV) production reached 2.53 million units. For every four NEVs in China, one is made in Guangdong. And the foreign trade volume of the nine cities totaled 7.95 trillion RMB, up 0.4 percent year-on-year.
Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao deepened cooperation to boost trade growth
In addition, customs authorities in Guangdong province have boosted trade facilitation and promoted the development of new business forms in the GBA by advancing high-level opening-up and enhancing cross-border connectivity.
For instance, major reform measures have taken effect and the pilot scope of Combined Ports and One Port Pass has been further expanded. A total of 57 routes were launched, and more than 480,000 containers of goods were shipped in 2023.
The "single submission" service, a new customs declaration service for Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao cargo, was implemented to facilitate smoother trade and promote customs clearance data sharing. The items that need to be filled in by businesses were reduced by more than 50 percent.
So far, the Single E-Lock Scheme has covered seven cross-border ports and connected 18 cities in Hong Kong, Macao, Guangdong and Hunan. The customs clearance time was cut by over 50 percent.
Last year, the "Northbound travel for Hong Kong and Macao vehicles" scheme was also launched at the Zhuhai land port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. As of February 22, more than 1.78 million single-plate cars from Hong Kong and Macao had been inspected by the Bridge's customs.
Reporter | Fanny
Poster | Mia
Editor | Steven, Nan, Monica, James
