China's export hub in recovery.South China's Guangdong province is expected to achieve economic growth of 9 percent this year, higher than the target of 8.5 percent, governor Huang Huahua said Thursday.

The worst time was over and this year's economic situation was better than expected,Worst over for China's export hub-Guangdong chief.

Worst over for China's export hub-Guangdong chief

11.19.09, 07:52 AM EST By James Pomfret and Sui-Lee Wee

GUANGZHOU, China, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The worst is over for China's export engine of Guangdong, which was devastated by the financial crisis, amid hopeful signs of rising investment, exports and 1.2 million new jobs, its governor said on Thursday.

Guangdong, which encompasses the 'world factory' of the Pearl River Delta, was hit by mass factory closures and lay-offs as the global downturn shrank the orders from Western consumers that are the export-oriented region's lifeblood.

Since then, however, with China's talismanic nationwide economic growth target of 8 percent seen to be in the bag, and export declines having reversed, Guangdong's economic outlook has steadily improved.

'To put it short, the worst is over,' Guangdong's governor Huang Huahua told reporters during a major economic conference in the provincial capital Guangzhou.

Huang said 1.23 million jobs had been created in Guangdong between January and October, with scattered signs of labour shortages in some Delta factory towns as Christmas orders have picked up from Western customers.

Read All Comments 'The employment market has essentially stabilised, while rural and urban residents' wages have steadily increased,' he said.

MIGRANT WORKERS

Huang said Guangdong's new job tally represented one-sixth of China's overall total for the same period, working out to around 7.4 million new jobs nationwide. If accurate, this would mean nearly a third of the estimated 23 million migrant workers who were laid off in China due to the crisis have found work again.

Some economists, however, said the figure needed to be considered in a broader context.

'It's not telling you about job destruction, and it's not telling you to what extent those jobs have come about merely from stimulus money,' said Stephen Green, a China economist for Standard Chartered ( SCBEF.PK - news - people ) Bank, referring to China's nationwide stimulus package of 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion).

'There are still some serious problems in the export economy,' Green added, pointing out that while factory output surged to a 19-month high in October, overall exports in October were still down 13.8 percent year-on-year.

Huang reiterated that Guangdong, which churns out around a third of China's overall exports, would likely hit overall GDP growth this year of more than 9 percent.

'The drop in our foreign trade has been narrowed. For the first three quarters the foreign trade has witnessed a drop of 16.8 percent, which is 3.1 percent less than the national average. This was a very hard task to achieve.'

Meanwhile, with the Christmas season approaching, there have been signs of surprisingly robust and increasing demand for Chinese goods in its major trade partner of the United States.

An executive for U.S. toy giant Mattel ( MAT - news - people ) who spoke on condition of anonymity, said exporters were now air-freighting toys and other goods at great cost to meet rush orders from major U.S. retailers like Wal-mart, who have been facing stock shortfalls, with earlier shipments of goods having been overly conservative.

(Editing by Alex Richardson) http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/11/19/afx7140113.html

China's export hub in recovery, uncertainties remain

2009-11-08 11:08:45
by Xinhua writers Zhu Shaobin, Gao Tian and Liu Min

BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- As the world economy shows positive signs of recovery, Guangdong Province, an export hub in south China, is also stepping out of the shadow of the global financial crisis, with insiders and experts still warning of uncertainties.

In September, the province's total imports and exports were down 8.3 percent year on year at 60.6 billion U.S. dollars, but the rate of decline was narrowed below a double digit for the first time this year, according to the local customs office.

It was also the first time monthly imports and exports topped 60 billion U.S. dollars in value this year.

"We can say the decline rate now has been narrowing. It is not going down as sharply as the fourth quarter of last year," said Cai Kang, vice director of the Bureau of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of Dongguan City, one of the province' manufacturing centers.

That achievement could be partly attributed to the local government's proactive measures aiming to stabilize exports while optimizing environment for businesses in face of weak foreign demand, he said.

However, Xiao Zhenyu, a government official in charge of foreign trade in provincial capital Guangzhou, only expressed cautious optimism.

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