The trade volume between Shenzhen and Hong Kong increased 10.3 folds from 70.17 billion yuan (US$10.5 billion) in 1997 to 722.53 billion yuan in 2021, an average annual growth of 10.2%, data from Shenzhen Customs showed yesterday.
In the first five months of this year, the figure exceeded 200 billion yuan, further promoting the level of coordinated development of GBA cities, data showed.
After HK’s return to the motherland in 1997, closer ties and complementary trade modes have enabled fast growth of trade between the two cities. The general trade volume kept an annual growth rate of 9.7% on average in the past 25 years to reach 135.2 billion yuan in 2021 from 14.78 billion yuan in 1997.
When Ching Chi-fai from Hong Kong established the Ming Fai factory in Shenzhen’s Longgang District in 1986 to process shampoo and liquid soap products for the world’s hotels with raw materials imported from foreign countries, he had only 30 employees. At that time, the company could earn meager processing fees. Now his company has grown to be a group company with 2,000 employees. It has started selling its own brands and procured most of raw materials from the mainland. Its products are sold to more than 100 countries and regions worldwide, yielding an annual trade value of about US$100 million, according to the customs.
Private businesses contributed to 44.6% of the total trade volume between Shenzhen and Hong Kong in 2021, compared to 0.4% in 1997, data showed.
The trade of high-tech products represented by mechanical and electronic products has replaced traditional trade of items like garments and toys to become the major contributor.
In 2021, the export volume of high-tech products from Shenzhen to Hong Kong reached 528.6 billion yuan, witnessing an annual growth rate of 19.8% in the past 25 years and accounting for 74.7% of the total export volume between the two cities the same year, compared to 11.6% in 1997. In 2021, Shenzhen’s overseas trade reached 3.54 trillion yuan, of which the trade with Hong Kong took up more than 20%. Hong Kong remained to be the biggest trade partner of Shenzhen.