City retains top spot in exports for 30th year in 2022

Writer: Han Ximin  |  Editor: Liu Minxia  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2023-01-20

A bird's-eye view of the Yantian Port area. Shenzhen has once again emerged as China’s leading exporter, with exports jumping 13.9% year on year to 2.19 trillion yuan (US$323 billion) in 2022, ranking first for the 30th consecutive year in China, data released by Shenzhen Customs on Thursday suggested. Lin Jianping

Shenzhen has once again emerged as China’s leading exporter, with exports jumping 13.9% year on year to 2.19 trillion yuan (US$323 billion) in 2022, ranking first for the 30th consecutive year in China, data released by Shenzhen Customs on Thursday suggested.

The volume contributed 43.1% to the total exports of the nine mainland cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) last year.

The city’s total foreign trade reached a new high of 3.67 trillion yuan, up by 3.7% year on year. The volume accounted for 44.2% of Guangdong’s total and 46.3% of the total of the nine mainland cities in the GBA. Its growth rate was 3.2 percentage points higher than that of Guangdong, data showed.

The city’s imports amounted to 1.48 trillion yuan, ranking third in the country.

The volume of general trade, which represents a longer production chain and higher added value as the key indicator of a city’s foreign trade competence, expanded 4% to 1.82 trillion yuan in 2022, accounting for 49.6% of the city’s total trade.

Private enterprises showed continuous vitality last year, with their imports and exports standing at 2.28 trillion yuan, up by 5.9% year on year. The volume accounted for 62.1% of Shenzhen’s total trade, 1.3 percentage points higher than 2021.

Hong Kong remained to be Shenzhen’s largest trading partner in 2022, with the trade between the two sides hitting 650.9 billion yuan, accounting for 17.7% of the total. Shenzhen’s imports and exports with the U.S., EU, India and the U.K. went up by 18.8%, 18.5%, 55% and 26.5%, respectively.

The trade with Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) partners and Belt and Road countries topped 1 trillion yuan and 893 billion yuan, up by 7.8% and 15.1%, respectively, from a year ago.

The exports of mechanical and electrical products represented 76.5% of the city’s total exports in 2022, and rose 8.7% year on year to 1.68 trillion yuan.

The imports of mechanical and electrical products reached 1.18 trillion yuan, accounting for 79.8% of the city’s total imports.

The outstanding performance was largely attributed to the city’s intensive measures to stabilize foreign trade in face of a grim and complex development environment, according to the commerce bureau.

The city has set up an international trading center for electrical components and integrated circuits and the RCEP Service Center, and organized multiple lectures to introduce RCEP, foreign investment policies and customs declaration facilitation to help foreign trade-oriented enterprises. It also established a global trade network command center to help local enterprises expand their overseas markets.