Foreign trade

Guangdong province is China's largest exporting province . In 2000, it registered a total foreign trade value of US$170.106 billion, a robust increase of 21.2 per cent over US$140.34 billion in 1999.

Export contributed to slightly more than 54 per cent of the province's total trade. Total export value was US$91.92 billion, up by 18.3 per cent over US$77.675 billion in 1999, accounting for 36.9 per cent of the country's total export value. The province's exports in 2000 were largely manufactured goods, totalling US$88.474 billion, about 96.3 per cent of the total export value. Export of primary products was US$3.446 billion, accounting for 3.7 per cent of total export value.

Exports were destined for 214 countries and regions , though the top five export markets took about 87 per cent of the province's exports. The most significant change in the constitution of the top five markets is the reduction of Hong Kong's share in the province's export (see Table 7.19.2). In 1995, Hong Kong was a gateway for Guangdong's exports and took as much as 87.03 per cent of its exports. By 2000, however, its share in Guangdong's total export value had dropped to 34.3 per cent. The USA's share in the province's export increased from about 3 per cent in 1995 to 25.7 per cent in 2000, as did those of the European Union and Japan, whose shares in Guangdong's total export increased quite dramatically in those six years .

Table 7.19.2: Top five export markets, Guangdong Province, 1995 and 2000

Country/region	Export value (US$ million)	% of export total
1995
Hong Kong	48,449.77	87.03
USA	1,708.22	3.07
Japan	1,085.72	1.95
European Union	1,073.03	1.93
Taiwan Province	1,059.48	1.90
Total	53,376.22	95.88
2000
Hong Kong	31,528.71	34.30
USA	23,627.27	25.70
European Union	12,580.84	13.69
Japan	7,747.64	8.43
ASEAN	4,507.66	4.90
Total	79,992.12	87.02

The province's total import value hit a high of US$78.185 billion in 2000, an increase of 24.8 per cent over US$62.665 billion in 1999. The province imported more manufactured products than primary products in terms of total value: US$68.323 billion compared with US$9.692 billion worth. The split was 87.6 per cent and 12.4 per cent. Import commodities came from 166 countries and regions. As with export, the province's dependence on Hong Kong for imports has greatly reduced (see Table 7.19.3). Hong Kong ranked seventh in 2000 as a supplier of the province's imports, with its share in the total import value falling from 79.51 per cent in 1995 to 6.71 per cent in 2000.

Table 7.19.3: Top five import markets, Guangdong Province, 1995 and 2000

Country/region	Import value (US$ million)	% of import total
1995
Hong Kong	30,346.82	79.51
Taiwan Province	3,994.91	10.47
Japan	1,155.29	3.03
European Union	857.03	2.25
USA	475.78	1.25
Total	36,829.83	96.51
2000
Taiwan Province	15,126.53	19.35
Japan	14,013.19	17.92
ASEAN	9,178.82	11.74
EU	7,001.90	8.96
Republic of Korea	6,854.94	8.77
Total	74,886.04	66.74