Shenzhen's foreign trade reaches historic high in H1

Shenzhen's foreign trade got off a robust start in the first half of this year (H1), with total imports and exports expanding 33% year-on-year to 2.88 trillion yuan (US$396 billion), reaching a historic high for the period, according to the latest statistics from Shenzhen Customs.

A view of Shenzhen's Futian District. File photos

During the first six months, the city's exports rose 15.5% to 1.51 trillion yuan, while imports surged by 59.8% to 1.37 trillion yuan. For the month of June alone, Shenzhen's foreign trade volume hit 562.18 billion yuan, representing a 42.1% year-on-year growth, with exports increasing by 13.8% to 285.28 billion yuan and imports skyrocketing by 90.8% to 276.9 billion yuan.

Yantian Port.

The city's foreign trade performance in H1 was characterized by several key trends. 

General trade accounted for over half of the total volume, reaching 1.48 trillion yuan with a growth of 24.4%, which represented 51.4% of the city's overall trade. Meanwhile, bonded logistics grew by 50.2% to 874.09 billion yuan, accounting for 30.4% of the total, while processing trade increased by 35.3% to 515.98 billion yuan, taking up 17.9%.

Private enterprises remained the primary engine of the city's foreign trade growth, contributing over 70% of the total volume. In the first half of the year, trade by private businesses rose by 40.4% to 2.12 trillion yuan, accounting for 73.6% of Shenzhen's total trade and driving the city's overall foreign trade growth upward by 28.2 percentage points. Foreign-invested enterprises also saw steady growth, with their trade volume rising 27.1% to 715.32 billion yuan, taking up 24.8% of the total.

Shenzhen's trade with all of its top 10 trading partners saw positive growth, collectively amounting to 2.25 trillion yuan, up 35.1% and accounting for 78.1% of the city's total trade. Hong Kong, ASEAN, and Taiwan remained Shenzhen's top three trading partners. Trade with Hong Kong grew by 67% to 563.61 billion yuan, trade with ASEAN rose by 19% to 426.29 billion yuan, and trade with Taiwan increased by 10.4% to 278.1 billion yuan.

Additionally, trade with other key regions and countries continued to rise, including the European Union (256.26 billion yuan, up 17.4%), the United States (231.32 billion yuan, up 12.4%), Japan (173.06 billion yuan, up 85.8%), South Korea (164.76 billion yuan, up 35.9%), Switzerland (57.39 billion yuan, up 521%), India (50.13 billion yuan, up 20.1%), and Australia (47.76 billion yuan, up 77.9%).

On the export front, both traditional electronic information sectors and emerging industries recorded strong growth. Exports of mechanical and electrical products climbed 18.5% to 1.16 trillion yuan, accounting for 77%t of Shenzhen's total exports. Notably, exports of electronic components grew by 45.8% to 237.96 billion yuan, while computer and parts exports rose 19.4% to 182.42 billion yuan. The "new three" green items— electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products — saw their combined exports increase by 28.9% to 66.78 billion yuan.

Regarding imports, demand for electronic components grew rapidly. During the first half of the year, Shenzhen imported mechanical and electrical products worth 1.05 trillion yuan, up 48% and accounting for 76.5% of the city's total imports. Specifically, imports of electronic components grew by 48.8% to 627.82 billion yuan, computer parts and accessories surged by 367.4% to 160.78 billion yuan, and imports of storage units rose by 99.5% to 54.71 billion yuan.