Recently, Dongguan’s foreign trade data was released: in the first two months of this year, Dongguan’s total foreign trade volume reached 185.33 billion yuan, maintaining its position as the second largest in the province. The overall scale of foreign trade continued the growth momentum from the fourth quarter of last year, with a growth rate outperforming the national average, increasing by 10.6% year-on-year.
Since the beginning of the new year, Dongguan has continued to make waves: On February 20th, OPPO held an AI smartphone strategic conference at Binhaiwan New District, unlocking the imagination space of the new generation of intelligent terminals. On March 4th, the power of the neutron beam at the China Spallation Neutron Source reached 160 kW, exceeding the design target by 60%, attracting global attention… With the arrival of spring, people deeply feel that Dongguan has “warmed up” in its economy again.
Last year, Dongguan’s industrial added value growth rate turned from negative to positive, with positive growth for five consecutive months. The leading electronic information industry reversed its downward trend, with a 13.3% increase in output value of Huawei, OPPO, and vivo smartphones. The output value of the seven major strategic emerging industry bases exceeded 100 billion yuan for the first time. With continuous efforts in new industrialization, Dongguan’s manufacturing industry is upgrading in quality, marking a bright start.
Foreign trade recovery
Opening up new prospects through coordinated development of domestic and foreign trade
Dongguan’s economy starts the year on a high note, leading the way particularly in the field of foreign trade.
In 2023, Dongguan’s foreign trade withstood pressure, with the total import and export value reaching 1.28 trillion yuan for the whole year, ranking fifth nationwide; among which, there was a growth of 7.7% in the fourth quarter, reversing the downward trend in the first three quarters. In the first two months of this year, Dongguan's foreign trade continued its growth momentum, with the total import and export volume increasing by 10.6% year-on-year.
Huang Qifan, Executive Vice Chairman of the Academic Committee of the China Institute for Innovation & Development Strategy, stated that externally, Dongguan is a pioneer in external circulation, and internally, it is a hub of internal circulation. Under the new development pattern of the country, Dongguan shoulders the mission of integrating the external circulation into the internal circulation.
On one hand, Dongguan is making every effort to stabilize the international market, employing a combination of strategies such as product breakthroughs, market breakthroughs, and channel breakthroughs.
In terms of product breakthroughs, in the first two months of this year, Dongguan’s exports of integrated circuits increased by 30.1%. Last year, exports of the “new three items,” represented by electric passenger vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells, increased by 33.9% overall, becoming stabilizers for Dongguan’s foreign trade.
In terms of market breakthroughs, Dongguan continues to consolidate its traditional foreign trade markets in Europe, America, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, while also expanding into emerging markets such as the Middle East, Central Asia, Russia, and Latin America. In the first two months of this year, Dongguan’s imports and exports to and from China’s Hong Kong, China’s Taiwan, the United States, and the European Union all showed double-digit growth, with a 9.9% increase in imports and exports to other BRICS countries.
In terms of channel breakthroughs, the “Airport Center” project jointly developed by Dongguan and Hong Kong is the world’s first “sea-air cargo intermodal” facility directly connected to the airside of the airport. Operating for nearly a year, it has handled approximately 3,500 tons of imports and exports, with a total value of about 1.6 billion yuan. The “Overall Plan for Deepening Cross-Strait Innovative Development Cooperation in Dongguan” has been approved, and Dongguan, known as the “Second Hometown” for Taiwanese businessmen, has taken on the new mission of building a new engine for cross-strait industrial innovation and development.
On the other hand, Dongguan is accelerating the expansion of the domestic market. Last year, despite numerous challenges, Dongguan’s sales within foreign-invested enterprises exceeded 600 billion yuan. Going forward, Dongguan will expand the implementation of projects that adhere to the same standards and quality both domestically and internationally, facilitating the seamless transition of products between the domestic and international markets and supporting enterprises in navigating both markets smoothly.
Dailywin Watch Co., Ltd. is a typical foreign trade enterprise in Dongguan. In recent years, it has been continuously committed to exploring and breaking through in domestic sales and independent brands. Dailywin Watch’s independent brand, SAGA, has cooperated with China’s lunar exploration project and has already launched dozens of aerospace-themed watches. Dailywin Watch has also successfully participated in Huawei’s DFH project, becoming its smart accessory partner.
General Manager Liu Ren of Dailywin Watch said, “Last year, Dailywin Watch’s domestic market sales increased by about 30% compared to the previous year, performing better than exports. The proportion of domestic sales to the company’s total sales has now reached close to 10%. We are very optimistic about the domestic market.”
Bai Ming, member and research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, stated that Dongguan’s foreign trade transformation has shown significant results, with strong momentum for the future.
Industries stabilized
Multiple indicators show a strong rebound.
When it comes to Dongguan’s manufacturing industry, many people immediately think of Huawei.
Recently, the Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) forecasted that in the first quarter of 2024, Huawei’s foldable screen smartphone shipments will increase by 105% year-on-year, with its market share surpassing Samsung’s, ranking first globally.
In August last year, the Huawei Mate 60 series, equipped with the self-developed Kirin chipset, was released, breaking the foreign monopoly and adding another star product to “Dongguan Manufacturing”, making “far ahead” a hot topic across the internet.
The electronic information industry, represented by smartphones, is the cornerstone of Dongguan’s manufacturing industry. When smartphones thrive, Dongguan’s economy thrives; when smartphones falter, Dongguan’s economy may “sneeze”.
The breakthrough in core technology of the Mate 60 series has sparked a buying frenzy, leading to a 13.3% increase in Dongguan’s smartphone output value. This has driven the growth of the industrial sector by 1.82 percentage points, revitalizing the overall industrial landscape with strong upward momentum.
The more intense the market competition, the more dazzling the brilliance that the Dongguan electronic information industry can hone out.
Huawei’s Ascend AI chip has approached the level of similar products from NVIDIA, and domestic intelligent computing clusters are expected to experience explosive growth. The new model Find X7 released by OPPO, equipped with the Andes large model, is one of the most powerful terminal AIs currently available. OPPO is also investing 10 billion yuan to build an intelligent manufacturing center in Dongguan, with an annual output value expected to reach 28 billion yuan.
In the layout of the electronic information industry, Dongguan has even greater ambitions - to seize the opportunity for domestic substitution, actively undertake the transformation of research and development achievements and capacity overflow of key enterprises and support new-generation electronic information enterprises to participate in the national industrial base reconstruction project.
Not only in electronic information, but also in many economic indicators, Dongguan has experienced a rebound.
In the second half of last year, Dongguan’s industrial sector continued to rebound. The annual industrial electricity consumption increased by 3.3% year-on-year, which was 4.7 percentage points higher than the first half of the year. The growth rate of industrial added value turned positive from August onwards, maintaining consecutive growth. In addition to the electronic information industry, Dongguan’s food and beverage processing manufacturing industry grew by 10%, and the chemical manufacturing industry grew by 4.1%.
A series of indicators leading the province confirms the fruitful results of Dongguan’s development transformation. Dongguan has ranked first among prefecture-level cities in the province for 12 consecutive years in terms of the total number of newly added market entities. It also ranks first in the province in terms of newly upgraded industrial enterprises and newly added digital transformation enterprises. The rapid increase in A-share listed companies and national-level specialized and sophisticated “Little Giant” enterprises also positions Dongguan at the forefront among prefecture-level cities in the province.
As we enter 2024, Dongguan welcomes a “bright start”. By the end of January, the city’s industrial electricity consumption had increased by over 120% year-on-year, with industrial procurement expected to grow by 35% year-on-year, and the number of market entities increasing by 10.2% year-on-year.
“Despite multiple external risks, Dongguan has managed to overcome them,” said Liu Jinshan, a doctoral supervisor at the School of Economics of Jinan University and Director of the Investment Consultation (Research) Center. “Maintaining an economic total of 1.14 trillion yuan is commendable in terms of scale. Dongguan is an important growth pole in the province and even in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.”
Embracing the “new” and moving forward
Establishment of new industrial pillars picking up speed in upgrading
As the first major industry leader introduced as a new pillar industry in Dongguan, BYD’s new energy vehicle key components project has accelerated the landing of the project, injecting “Dongguan power” into the bustling traffic; AeroTranscendent’s first propeller aircraft has rolled off the assembly line and delivered, marking a breakthrough of “zero” in Dongguan’s aircraft manufacturing, sending out the “Dongguan sound” in the vast sky.
In 2023, Dongguan accelerated the establishment of new industrial pillars, with the output value of the seven major strategic emerging industry bases in Dongguan surpassing 100 billion yuan. Leading projects took the lead, small and medium-sized enterprises “flew alongside”, and the industrial chain gradually became clearer, resulting in vigorous growth in Dongguan’s emerging industries.
At the Linshen Electronic Information Industry Base, investments of 5 billion yuan from Rayking Electronics for the manufacturing of consumer electronics intelligent terminals, and 4.5 billion yuan from Sunlord for new electronic components and precision ceramics, will help propel the four major industrial clusters including the new generation of electronic information, semiconductors, and integrated circuits to set off fully charged.
At the Dongguan New Materials Industry Base, investments of 8 billion yuan from Tianyu Semiconductor and 10 billion yuan from Everbright Research and Manufacturing Center are accelerating their layouts. Companies like Sinopatt Semiconductor and FWADVMAT are expanding their presence and growing stronger.
Today, Dongguan’s emerging industries are becoming increasingly mature. The trillion-level new generation electronic information industry, the 500 billion-level high-end equipment manufacturing industry, the 150 billion-level new materials industry, and rapidly growing emerging industries such as new energy, artificial intelligence, semiconductor and integrated circuits, software and information services, biomedicine, collectively support Dongguan’s new quality production with a solid foundation.
Last year, Dongguan’s fixed asset investment increased by 2.7%, higher than the provincial average level, with investment in advanced manufacturing increasing by 5.8% year-on-year. This year, Dongguan has initially arranged for 780 major construction projects in the city, with a total investment of 794.3 billion yuan and an annual planned investment of 112.6 billion yuan.
Dongguan has designated 2024 as the “Year of Investment”, with the construction of strategic emerging industries and advanced manufacturing projects being the main force. The seven major strategic emerging industry bases in Dongguan will continue to sound the charge, accelerating the establishment of new industrial pillars in Dongguan, and writing a new chapter towards “new” and “prosperous” paths.
