Guangdong's foreign trade hits $633.9b in first two quarters

Guangdong's effort to diversify its global market has achieved results, as the province recorded a total foreign trade volume of more than 4.55 trillion yuan ($633.9 billion) in the first half of the year, a year-on-year growth of 4 percent, said the Guangdong customs authorities during a news conference in Guangzhou on Friday.

Guangdong's trading partners are becoming more diverse as the province's "circle of friends" expands, said Zhang Ke, deputy director of the Guangdong sub-administration of the General Administration of Customs of China, at the news conference.

Guangdong's trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the province's biggest trade partner, came to 757.13 billion yuan in the first two quarters, up year-on-year 5.9 percent and representing 16.6 percent of the province's total.

The proportion increased by 0.3 percentage points compared to the same period last year, according to Zhang.

The province's import and export volume with major trading partners, including the European Union, Japan, and South Korea, all witnessed positive growth in the six months ending June, with the United States as the only exception.

Guangdong's foreign trade with the United States saw a year-on-year reduction of 8.1 percent.

Zhang said Guangdong's foreign trade volume with the countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative saw a year-on-year growth of 3.8 percent to hit 1.79 trillion yuan. Among them, the province's foreign trade with the five Central Asian nations saw a year-on-year increase of 23.1 percent in the first six months.

According to Zhang, Guangdong sold 2.89 trillion yuan worth of products abroad while purchasing goods valued at 1.66 trillion yuan from the rest of the world. The figures represented a year-on-year growth of 1.1 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively.

"The growth rate was 1.1 percentage points faster than the national average," said Zhang, adding that the province's scale of total foreign trade, imports, and exports all reached a record high in the first six months.