South China's Guangdong saw negative foreign trade growth in 2014

Guangdong province, the longtime economic and export powerhouse of South China, expects foreign trade to grow by 3 percent in 2015, after it registered a negative year-on-year growth for 2014, according to a government work report on Monday.

The report, which cited the province's increasing efforts to transform its economic growth model, was delivered by Guangdong Governor Zhu Xiaodan at the annual local legislative session, which opened on Monday in Guangzhou, the capital city.

"We will increase investment and boost domestic consumption, and better readjust our economic structure, to maintain a healthy economic growth," said Zhu.

Guangdong's foreign trade declined 2.5 percent year-on-year to 6.61 trillion yuan ($1.05 trillion) in 2014, the first drop since 2010, according to the provincial customs authority.

The province accounted for 25 percent of China's total foreign trade, which grew 2.3 percent year-on-year to 26.43 trillion yuan last year, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Guangdong's trade, which saw the biggest year-on-year drop of 38.7 percent in March since 2013, ended a period of negative growth in June and started a rebound starting in the third quarter of last year.

Despite negative trade growth in 2014, Zhu said Guangdong's foreign trade structure was optimized, with general trade and service trade increasing steadily.

Guangdong's general trade, which reflects the exports of self-developed products, increased 12.7 percent year-on-year to $415.76 billion in 2014, accounting for 38.6 percent of the province's total trade, according to customs data.

"We also developed a number of foreign trade service companies, which played an increasing role in helping exporters ship goods overseas," Zhu said.

Guangdong's cross-border e-commerce trade grew fast last year, with online transactions accounting for nearly 70 percent of the country's total, according to the government work report.

According to Zhu, the province will introduce a series of measures including establishment of more new trade platforms, organization of overseas promotion events and streamlining trade procedures to maintain growth.

"Traditional processing trade companies will be encouraged to accelerate technology innovation and upgrade their products. Moreover, we will expand the export of self-developed products," Zhu said.

Industry sources said Guangdong's lower trade growth target in 2015 was based on uncertain foreign demand and the province's determination to change its economic growth model amid a "new normal" for the economy.

Lin Jiang, director of the finance and taxation department of the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong, said: "Under the new economic situation, Guangdong, one of the country's economic powerhouses, should become a pilot province to boost trade quality and optimize the economic development model."

Guangdong's economy expects to grow by about 7.5 percent year-on-year in 2015, with fixed-asset investment and total retail sales of consumer goods expected to increase 15.5 percent and 12 percent year-on-year, respectively, according to the government work report.

"The province needs to improve its trade structure by attaching more importance to exports of advanced technology and equipment," said Lin.

Meanwhile, the establishment of a free trade zone in Guangdong, which includes Nansha in Guangzhou, Hengqin in Zhuhai and Qianhai in Shenzhen, will play a significant role in boosting trade by building an international trade practice, according to Lin.