Guangdong Province, China's biggest foreign trader, realized a record import and export volume of US$30.43 billion in July, up 25.9 per cent from the same month of last year.

It was a record high in a single month in the province's foreign trade history, said Wu Sihai, an official from Guangdong Customs yesterday.

According to statistics released by Guangdong Customs yesterday, Guangdong's exports came to US$15.85 billion last month, the highest this year, while imports hit US$14.58 billion, a record high in Guangdong's import history.

The province's exports and imports grew 25.9 per cent and 28.4 per cent respectively from the same month of last year.

Wu said the sustainable growth of foreign trade in the previous month has helped lay a solid foundation for Guangdong to achieve its annual foreign trade goals in 2004.

The southern Chinese province has planned to realize a total foreign trade volume of more than US$300 billion this year, and its annual export target has been targeted at US$165 billion.

And the good foreign trade performance in the previous month has also helped the province realize total import and export volume of US$189.73 billion in the first seven months this year, up 27.7 per cent from the same period of last year.

Guangdong's foreign trade volume represented 30.4 per cent of the country's total, Wu said.

The province's exports notched up at US$98.73 billion between January and July, up 25.6 per cent while imports stood at more than US$91 billion, a year-on-year increase of 29.9 per cent.

The province's exports and imports respectively accounted for 31.9 per cent and 29 per cent of China's total in the first seven months.

Exports from the general products trade increased 32.4 per cent to hit US$20.06 billion in the first seven months while exports from the processing industry reached US$74.6 billion, up 23.2 per cent.

Guangdong reached a foreign trade surplus of US$7.73 billion in the first seven months.

Spurred by the expansion of the European Union (EU), CEPA (Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement) and the 9-2 Pan Pearl River Delta co-operative scheme, Guangdong's exports to the EU and Hong Kong witnessed even bigger growth in the first seven months this year.

Guangdong's export to the EU's 25 nations grew 27 per cent to hit more than US$14 billion in the seven months ending July while export orders from Hong Kong Special Administrative Region increased 26.3 per cent to worth US$34.78 billion.

Guangdong also sold US$23.42 billion worth of products to the United States from January to July, up year-on-year 23.1 per cent.

Hong Kong, the United States and EU are still the three biggest trade partners of Guangdong Province this year.

And Guangdong also sold goods valued at US$4.72 billion to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from January to July, a year-on-year rise of 20.2 per cent. But exports to Japan saw a growth of only 8.1 per cent to US$7.1 billion in the first seven months.

Exports from foreign-funded companies and joint ventures reached US$61.97 billion between January and July, up year-on-year 28.8 per cent and accounting for 62.8 per cent of the province's total.

And exports from private-operated firms saw an even bigger growth of 83.5 per cent to US$9.38 billion from January to July.

The province's State-owned enterprises sold US$23.35 billion worth of products abroad, up year-on-year only 4.5 per cent and representing 23.7 per cent of the province's total export volume.

(China Daily August 16, 2004)