If you have the chance to visit the ongoing 139th Canton Fair, you might notice three intuitive impressions:
More people than ever, a larger space than before, and more new products than previous editions.
Looking at the participation data from recent Canton Fairs, this feeling becomes even more apparent: popularity and orders are returning.
Just-released economic data from Guangdong for the first quarter confirms this: Guangdong’s GDP grew by 4.6%, an increase of 0.5 percentage points from the same period last year and 0.7 percentage points from the full year of last year. Foreign trade grew by 19.4%, achieving significant growth against the trend.
In the statistical report, we noticed a high-frequency word — “return.” When evaluating the overall economic data for the first quarter, Guangdong also summarized it as “recovery and improvement.”
Behind the recovery, what is different?
But looking at the data alone does not objectively reflect the full picture of the recovery.
Behind the first-quarter data growth is a new core support formed by three major areas: industry, finance, and information services.
These three areas alone contributed nearly 70% to Guangdong’s first-quarter economic growth. In particular, the artificial intelligence boom drove rapid growth in Guangdong’s electronics industry, with computers, communications, and other electronic equipment manufacturing maintaining double-digit growth, boosting the province’s industrial added value above a designated size by 3.6 percentage points, contributing over 60%. Under multiple pressures, Guangdong, which has long insisted on “manufacturing as the foundation,” has not only further strengthened its real economy support but also gradually transformed its core support from traditional manufacturing to modern industries.
Guangdong’s economy, currently in a deep adjustment period, is seeing a subtle shift in the drivers of economic development: in the first quarter, the added value of advanced manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing grew by 7.0% and 11.9%, respectively, 1.6 and 6.5 percentage points higher than the growth rate of industrial added value above a designated size, accounting for 56.7% and 34.8% of the total.
Beyond the overall data recovery, it is Guangdong’s hard work in recent years to develop a modern industrial system that is gradually transforming into a “supporting force” driving overall economic development.
Behind the recovery, why is it returning?
The 139th Canton Fair is being held during the rainy season in the Greater Bay Area. At the fair, global buyers traveled across the oceans and still arrived on time, unwilling to miss this biannual trade opportunity.
It’s not just the buyers at the Canton Fair seeking opportunities in China who remain undeterred by the weather.
In the first quarter of this year, Guangdong’s total foreign trade in goods reached 2.54 trillion yuan, an increase of 19.4%. It led the nation in terms of national share (21.5%), incremental growth (412.79 billion yuan), and contribution rate (26.7%). The activity level of export-oriented sectors increased, with bonded logistics growing by 29.2%.
The “return” of a thriving foreign trade situation is not only a continuation of 11 consecutive months of growth but also includes new growth elements: foreign-invested enterprises saw imports and exports of 759.87 billion yuan, up 12.5%, accounting for 29.9% of total trade. Corresponding to this data, the number of newly established foreign-funded enterprises in the first quarter increased by 13.6%, and the amount of contracted foreign capital grew by 54.6%.
On March 26 this year, the BASF (Guangdong) Integrated Base in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, was fully put into operation. This project, announced in 2018 and the largest wholly foreign-owned single project invested by a German company in China, was successfully implemented and began production on schedule, strongly confirming foreign capital’s firm “heavy investment” in Guangdong.
From “selling products” to full-chain cooperation, foreign trade enterprises are accelerating the integration of trade and investment to boost Chinese brands going global. Stable expectations, a stable market, and a stable supply have created a “sense of security” for the return of foreign capital.
Looking ahead to the full year, more important than the data recovery is regaining the rhythm of growth.
Across Guangdong, 165 million people currently residing in the province are working together with continuously strengthened consumer policies. The gathering popularity is bringing economic vitality: in the first quarter, total retail sales of consumer goods grew by 2.5%, 0.</
