Where Does The Pearl River Delta Go?

Worker

The Pearl River Delta industrial cluster, which is the backbone of China's manufacturing, is encountering severe shocks.

If the new high value added industry is out of the Pearl River Delta and remains the most basic processing industry, where should the future of the PRD go?

In the 80s and 90s of last century, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan textile, clothing, toys,

However, the change has always been so rapid that the original advantages of Guangdong's foreign trade are gradually turning into a disadvantage.

The contradiction between the essence of cheap labor in processing trade and the rising cost of production in the PRD is intensifying.

Moreover, this year, China's foreign trade has rebounded sharply with the gradual recovery of the international economy, but the growth rate of Guangdong's foreign trade is obviously lagging behind the whole national level and the Yangtze River Delta.

According to Chinese customs statistics, the total value of foreign trade and import and export in Guangdong in 2010 1~5 was 279 billion 370 million US dollars, up 34% from the same period last year (below the same level), which is lower than the 44% growth rate of the whole country.

Over the same period, Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang were 174 billion 290 million US dollars, 139 billion 330 million US dollars and 94 billion 750 million US dollars respectively, representing an increase of 50.1%, 43.6% and 41.4% respectively.

Zhou Shijian, executive director of the China International Trade Association, told the first financial daily that the cost of labor and resource prices rose rapidly this year. The impact of the processing trade on both sides was much greater than that of general trade. This is the main reason why the growth rate of the Pearl River Delta, which accounts for a large proportion of processing trade, is lagging behind the whole country.

Processing trade is mainly dependent on cheap cost, and Guangdong's advantage is losing.

As Foxconn and other foundry companies raise salaries, Guangdong's growth rate of processing trade in the second half of this year may still be lower than the first half.

From the data released by the Guangdong branch of the General Administration of customs, we can see that the processing trade in Guangdong this year is less than that in general trade.

In the 1~5 months of this year, Guangdong's processing trade imports and exports reached 155 billion 670 million US dollars, an increase of 29.9%, accounting for 55.7% of Guangdong's total import and export value, while the general trade import and export 98 billion 620 million US dollars, an increase of 43%, accounting for 35.3% of the total value of Guangdong's imports and exports.

More importantly, in recent years, the proportion of Guangdong's imports and exports in the whole country showed a downward trend. The relevant materials of the Guangdong foreign trade and Economic Cooperation Department showed that in 2005, it accounted for 30.1% of the total in the country, and dropped to 26.7% in 2008.

Only in 2009, the situation was relatively special, rebounded to 27.7%.

Zhou Shijian analysis pointed out that this is mainly because the financial crisis has led to a decline in international raw material prices and a temporary drop in labor costs in Guangdong, which has given the processing trade a breathing space, which has made Guangdong's foreign trade slightly better than the whole country. However, the processing trade is relatively restricted by foreign customers. The upgrading stage is very difficult, and it is difficult to achieve results in a short time. It will take at least 3~5 years or even 10 years.

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Reporters from the Guangdong provincial foreign trade and Economic Cooperation Department this year, an internal information shows that although the Department has done a lot of work and achieved some results in promoting structural adjustment and pformation of the mode of economic development, in general, the pformation of foreign trade development mode is only preliminary. The characteristics of extensive development are still obvious. From the internal conditions, the quality and structural contradictions accumulated in Guangdong province are still more prominent, and the weakening of competitive advantage is gradually emerging.

It is mainly reflected in three aspects: the low cost of land and labor force is weakening, the independent innovation ability of SMEs is not strong, and the factors and conditions that determine the future competitive advantage are insufficient.

Zhou Shijian believes that the adjustment of Guangdong's foreign trade structure is urgent. Processing trade must extend in the direction of deep processing and high added value under the current situation. Guangdong has an advantage in capital, overseas channels and geographical location. We should introduce more talents in science and technology by means of capital advantage, change the extensive development mode of over reliance on migrant workers, and deepen cooperation with Hong Kong, Macao and ASEAN.

Ding Li, director of the scientific research division of the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences and deputy director of the regional competitiveness research center of Shanghai, said that the Pearl River Delta's foreign trade development has not enough stamina and has a certain relationship with the industrial structure. The proportion of labor-intensive processing trade products, such as electronic processing, textile and clothing, shoes and hats, is relatively large and its technical content is not high. The Yangtze River Delta has a larger proportion of heavy industry, such as steel, automobile manufacturing, aerospace, shipbuilding, heavy equipment and so on, with strong technical force.

In addition, multinationals also invest more in the Yangtze River Delta than in the PRD.