Updated: 2005-06-15
South China's Guangdong Province, the nation's leading foreign trader, reached an import and export volume of more than US$150.58 billion from January to May this year.

The figure represented an increase of more than 16 per cent from the corresponding months of the previous year and accounted for 28.8 per cent of the country's total.

Wu Sihai, an official from Guangdong Customs, attributed the province's robust foreign trade performance to Guangdong's sustainable export growth to Africa and the Middle East.

Guangdong's exports to Africa hit US$1.26 billion in the first five months of this year, up a year-on-year 47 per cent, while the province's sales to the Middle East increased year-on-year 38 per cent to top US$2.2 billion.

But Hong Kong, the United States, European Union, Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations continued to be the top five biggest trade partners of Guangdong.

"Guangdong's efforts to further diversify its international market has achieved its success," Wu told China Daily yesterday.

He predicted Guangdong's foreign trade with Africa, South America and the Middle East would continue to grow rapidly in the second half of the year.

According to statistics from Guangdong Customs released yesterday, Guangdong's export volume stood at US$82.03 billion, up year-on-year 22 per cent while imports grew a year-on-year 9.6 per cent to US$68.55 billion.

The province recorded a foreign trade surplus of US$13.48 billion between January and May, accounting for 44.9 per cent of the country's total.

In May alone, Guangdong had a foreign trade volume of US$32.12 billion, up 16.3 per cent from the corresponding period of last year and represented 29.8 per cent of China's total.

The province's exports reached US$17.78 billion while imports came to US$14.34 billion in May.