Dongguan: Ten Years Of A Foreign Trade City

In November 17th, Guangdong province Dongguan Scattered rain in central square of Shinan city. There are few people in the Plaza, known as Asia's first place, but it is difficult to hide the luxury and the typical extrovert. Economics Urban prosperity.

In every corner of Dongguan, factories are everywhere. According to statistics, there are about 116 thousand SMEs in Dongguan, most of which are export-oriented enterprises. Infrastructure construction in Dongguan almost all revolves around the design of an export-oriented economy. "The road between the highway and the town and town is designed to move the container out of Dongguan to the Hongkong container terminal faster and better." Jiang Lin, Professor of Zhongshan University and President of Dongguan Chuang Chuang investment academy, said.

"Joining the WTO, the pulse of foreign trade enterprises is closer to the fluctuation of the peripheral economy, and the quality of the peripheral economic situation will soon be reflected in the economic data of Dongguan. Objectively, it also enhances the pressure and competitiveness of enterprises. Liao Hui, chairman of a garment manufacturing company in Dalang Town, Dongguan, said.

Dongguan's foreign trade is experiencing the most difficult time now, thanks to the two dip in the European and American economies. Huang Guanqiu, director of the Dongguan Municipal Bureau of foreign trade and economic cooperation, said: "the operation of foreign trade enterprises is more difficult than the 2008 financial crisis." Dongguan's foreign trade, which has gone through many years of wind and rain, may be in a more difficult position.

The transition is also bumping against each other. Dongguan has become a high level "patronizing" city, and has also become a specimen of China's foreign trade development trend and transformation. On November 11th, Li Changchun, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, led the research group to study the difficult foreign trade of Dongguan and guide the transformation.

　 Ten years of vicissitudes

Dongguan used to be the most famous "dirty, messy, and poor" city in the country. "Before and after the accession to the WTO in 2001, the chaos in Dongguan was at its peak." Fang Chengli, who worked for nearly 20 years in an electronics company in Nancheng, Dongguan, is very aware of the changes in Dongguan.

Dongguan has experienced nearly 20 years of industrialization, and the "three to one subsidy" and processing trade have been flourishing. The self made economy is dynamism, but the lack of strength leads to the lack of effective order. "And some people begin to be satisfied with this labor-intensive export processing industry, or even be touted as a miracle in Dongguan." Jiang Lin said.

This situation has led to the bottleneck of Dongguan's economy. By 2001, foreign trade growth began to slow down despite the rapid growth of Dongguan's GDP in 18%. In those days, foreign trade increased by only 7.60% over the previous year.

It was also in December 11th of this year that China formally joined the WTO. This trend was quickly reversed by the new export situation, which was corroborated by the import and export data in 2002.

In 2002, although the haze of 9. 11 in the United States had not yet dissipated, the total import and export volume (Customs Statistics) of Dongguan in the year was $44 billion 247 million, an increase of 28.4% over the previous year. Of which, imports amounted to US $20 billion 511 million, an increase of 32.6%; exports amounted to US $23 billion 736 million, an increase of 25%. Dongguan's foreign trade swept away last year's downturn.

"Traffic jam in Dongguan is out of stock globally." This is a description of the export of IT and other industries in Dongguan at that time. According to the data at that time, 95% of the world's IT components and products came from Dongguan. "Accession to the WTO has brought tremendous opportunities to Dongguan's export, and the market space has expanded a lot. The export of bottlenecks has been liberated by the market in the short term." Jiang Lin said.

In 2010, Dongguan's GDP reached 424 billion 625 million yuan, 7.3 times that of GDP578.44 billion in 2001. GDP, which is more developed in Humen, Changan and Houjie, has already surpassed an intermediate market in the central provinces.

The city of Dongguan has also changed greatly. More than thirty towns have become economically developed small and medium-sized cities, and many towns are far more than some prefecture level cities in the mainland.

　 Roller coaster for foreign trade

Before joining WTO, the "wolf" worried by export enterprises did not come.

"But volatility and competition have intensified." Liao Hui said. Liao has been a garment manufacturer in Dongguan for more than 10 years, and his clothing is mainly exported to developed countries in Europe and the United States. Initially, the quality of clothing manufacturing in Dongguan was not very high. However, with the accession to the WTO, the policies and export competition of European and American countries led to the continuous improvement of the quality of garment enterprises. Liao's clothing companies are now producing high-end clothing.

The more difficult the lower end is, the lower the profit. He said. It is precisely because he has advanced the high-end line ahead of schedule that when other economies are in a downturn, other garment enterprises have failed to make profits, and their businesses have closed down, and his business has maintained considerable profits.

This reporter collates the latest 13 years of Dongguan's foreign trade economic development data, and finds that the situation is indeed what Liao Huiwen said. After joining the WTO, the peripheral economic situation is more and more directly affecting the Dongguan economy. During the 1998 financial crisis in Southeast Asia, many enterprises in Dongguan were closely related to Hongkong, which was in a difficult position. However, the export performance was not defeated. In the same year, exports increased by 14.9%.

But in the 2008 financial crisis, Dongguan's exports suffered from "Waterloo", and foreign trade grew by only 6.1% year-round. In 2009, Dongguan really suffered the most serious crisis in the history. Foreign trade declined 17% and exports fell 16% year-on-year. Dongguan's GDP grew by 5.3% in, breaking the myth of nearly 20% growth in Dongguan in the past 30 years.

Since then, the external economy has recovered, and Dongguan's foreign trade has also rebounded strongly. In 2010, foreign trade grew by 28.8% over the same period last year, but Dongguan was badly hurt, and GDP grew by only 10.3% in the same year. What is even more worrying is that the European and American economies are down again this year, and the foreign trade is showing a dilemma. In the first three quarters, foreign trade increased by only 12.5% compared to the same period last year, and GDP grew by only 8% last year.

In addition, some countries' trade protectionism has been disciplined to some extent. Liu Jianjun, deputy director of the China Foreign Trade Center, told the newspaper reporter: "joining the WTO has objectively enhanced the competitiveness of foreign trade enterprises. These enterprises have been very strong against the pressure for so many years."

Although Huang Guanqiu, director of the Dongguan Municipal Bureau of foreign trade and economic cooperation, predicted that the foreign trade situation will face the most severe challenges. However, the closure of enterprises announced by Dongguan still reveals some more mature signs of foreign trade enterprises.

According to the data released by Dongguan foreign trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau, the number of enterprises shutting down in Dongguan in recent years is: 957 in 2007, 865 in 2008, 657 in 2009, 585 in 2010, and 450 in 1-10 months this year. This year the situation is still better than in previous years. "The adjustment of these years after joining the WTO makes foreign trade enterprises more mature." Jiang Lin said. {page_break}

　 Break through

The uncertainty of the peripheral economy is still a dark cloud on the top of foreign trade enterprises.

"During the 2008 financial crisis, everyone was very hesitant. Now this situation is actually more serious than in 2008, but the mentality of the enterprise is very gentle." Huang Guanqiu said.

The reaction to foreign trade is often lagging behind, as Christmas orders are approaching Christmas, and the situation seems to be unsustainable. But Huo Jianguo, Dean of the International Trade Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, believes that two or three months later, the foreign trade situation may deteriorate.

After the accession to the WTO, the growth of wealth did not change the economic structure of Dongguan. The low end manufacturing industry's structural defects in foreign trade made Dongguan's foreign trade increase by only 13.2% in 2006, which has been in a low ebb. Since then, Dongguan has put forward economic transformation and spent a lot of money to build Dongguan Songshan Lake high tech Industrial Development Zone 5 years ago. It is positioned as "Dongguan and even the Pearl River Delta scientific development demonstration zone and industrial upgrading leading zone".

In the view of most Dongguan people, Songshan Lake is still only regarded as a weekend resort, and its first-class environment and supporting facilities have not brought a qualitative leap to Dongguan's industrial upgrading. "A large number of processing trade enterprises still stay in the manufacturing stage, and still have no change in the development and marketing of the two sides of the smile curve. In addition, Dongguan has not yet formed a new economic growth point." Jiang Lin thought Dongguan's transformation was not successful.

Dongguan's breakthrough is urgent. In September 2010, the State Council approved Songshan Lake as the national high tech Industrial Development Zone, and Dongguan's industrial upgrading was supported by the national level. In November 11th this year, Li Changchun took the central research team to Dongguan and asked Dongguan to accelerate the pace of industrial upgrading.

Industrial transformation and upgrading from top to bottom are accelerating. In November 16th, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of human resources and social security and the General Administration of Customs jointly recognized Dongguan as a pilot city for the transformation and upgrading of processing trade.

"The next ten years, upgrading means that the manufacturing industry will enter the middle and high end, and will face more severe challenges in the middle and high-end manufacturing industry in Europe and America." Jiang Lin thinks Dongguan needs to fight a vicious battle to break through.