This year has been, without doubt, one of the most difficult for Guangzhou's import & export industries since the beginning of the Reform and Development 30 years ago. During a press conference held on Wednesday (Oct. 28th), the director of the Guangzhou Foreign Economic and Trade Bureau, Xiao Zhenyu, spoke of trade carried out in the first three quarters of 2009 and ended on a positive note: "We are still struggling, but the future looks bright."

The 106th China Import and Export Fair, the country's largest export event received many more applications from exhibitors than previous fairs, and the number of overseas buyers will exceed that at the spring fair, indicating a steady recovery in China's exports. (Dayoo.com)

The value of Guangzhou's imports & exports from January to September reached 54.38 billion USD, down 13.49% year-on-year. Exports dropped to 26.43 billion USD whilst imports stood at 27.96 billion USD. According to the Ministry of Commerce (MoC), 610 foreign enterprises were registered in Guangzhou over the past nine months, down 17.9% year-on-year. But the outbound situation is much more positive with 49 overseas investment projects approved by the local government with a total investment amounting to 127 million USD, 1.49 times the amount of the whole of 2008.

After the outburst of the world financial crisis at the end of 2008, data shows Guangzhou's exports continuing to slip this year, but the decline is being constantly reduced and signs of rebound are increasingly obvious with hi-tech products leading the way.

As for imports, the Asian Games has had a significant impact on the market, especially for airline companies such as China Southern Airlines, investing massively in new planes to face the surge in the number of passengers expected in November 2010. Imports of automobile parts have also witnesses a non-negligible increase after preferential policies were rolled out earlier this year encouraging people to buy new cars.

Xiao predicts that if things continue as they are currently, Guangzhou's imports & exports will increase steadily in the last quarter of the year and that the annual decrease shall be reduced to less than 10%.