Market Information

In Year 2000, China's production targets for grain, 490 million tons; cotton3.2 million bales; and aquatic products, 40 million tons. These downward forecast adjustment from 1999 is due to excessive stockpiles after five consecutive years of bumper harvests. Decreased production may lead to more imports of high-quality agricultural products.

Market demand for agricultural machines such as straw pulverizers, seeders and reapers will increase dramatically in China's rice growing areas the next few years. This is a market opportunity for U.S. manufacturers of agricultural machines.

The prices of imported wood floorings were increased in the last four months due to the boom in real estates.

China recorded in 1999 a GDP of 8,319 billion yuan (US$1,006 billion), an increase of 7.1 percent over 1998. China's economy is expected to grow by 7.5 percent in 2000.

Guangdong's 1999 GDP was 840 billion yuan (US$102 billion), an increase of 9.4 percent over 1998. The province's economy is expected to grow by 8.5 percent in 2000. Guangdong is the most developed province of China, earning one seventh of the country's tax revenues in 1999.

In 1999, the residents in Guangzhou (Canton), the capital city of Guangdong Province spent 100 billion yuan (US$12.1 billion)in total, an increase of 14.29 percent over 1998.

The Guangzhou Port handled 100.5 million tons of cargo in 1999, an increase of 27.8 percent over previous year. The Guangzhou Port is the second Chinese port to exceed the 100 million ton threshold.

Guangzhou has strengthened its role as the economic and international trade center in South China beside the rapid growth of the neighboring Special Economic Zones (SEZ).

For more information on Guangzhou and South China, please visit the Foreign Agricultural Service Homepage: Select Market Reports, then Attache Reports for reports that are of interest to you. You may also contact FAS AgExport Services Division, Tel: (202)720-7420 , Fax: (202)690-4374; or ATO Guangzhou, Te: (8620)8667-7553, Fax: (8620)8666-0703 or e-mail: info@atoguangzhou.org

Introduction to Guangzhou

Of all the Chinese cities, the capital of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton), has the most established trade and business connection with the West. It was the China's only trading port until the mid-19th Century. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese Government chose Guangzhou as the site for China Export Commodity Fair (known as the canton Fair in the West), in recognition of city's pivotal role as an important business center for international trade. The business of Guangzhou is business.

Guangzhou has a population of 6.7 million. Its per capita GDP in 1998 was US$3,310, about the same level as Shanghai's. In the first eight months of 1999, Guangzhou's total industrial output value was RMB171.32 billion (US$20.72 billion).

Guangzhou is geographically close to China's Special Economic Zones (SEZ: Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, Xiamen and Haikou) and China's Special Administrative Regions (SAR: Hongkong and Macau) in the Pearl River Delta. The symbiotic relationship between these SEZ and SAR and Guangzhou is conductive to modernization. Guangzhou, SEZ and SAR are China's living laboratory for transforming its state controlled economy into public ownership. They have their unique opportunities and challenges.

The Pearl River Delta has a total land area of 41,500 square kilometers and population 28.1 million people. In 1998, the region's per capita GDP US$2,745 and the export volume was US$66.3 billion. Continuing its course of modernization, Guangzhou and the Pearl River Delta will exceed US$5,000 per capita GDP in 2010. This region will become as highly developed and prosperous as San Francisco and Bay Area, 50 years from now.

Highlights of Guangzhou

Guangzhou is a major city in China with 3,0000 years of cultural history. Many historical events in China's modern history such as the Opium Wars (1840,1858), the Taiping Uprising, the 1898 Reform Movement, and the 1911 Revolution took place or originated in the province. At the height of the infamous Cultural Revolution, the architect of modern China, Deng Xiaoping, took refuge in Guangdong. The first premier of China, Zhou Enlai, was the political director of the Huangpu Military Academy in Guangzhou and Mao zedong headed the Peasant Movement Institute in Guangzhou, both in the mid-1920s.

Despite its pivotal role in earning foreign exchange through tourism, earning US$2.9 billion in 1998, Guangzhou's tourist interests are directed primarily to a Chinese audience or an audience with a fair understanding of Chinese (Cantonese) culture and history. Most of the tourist attractions in Guangzhou are relatively underdeveloped which in fact is their primary attraction. Guangzhou's tourism receipt in 1998 was ranked No. 1 among all major Chinese cities.

To have a respite from your business activities, you might visit some of Guangzhou's numerous scenic parks. The Yuexiu Park and the Liu Hua Park are within walking distance from the China Hotel, where the ATO located. If your schedule permits it, you might take a tour to some of the mountains, lakes or gardens of Guangzhou. You have a choice of the Luofu Mountain, the Xiqiao Mountain, the Danxia Mountain, the Dinghu Mountain, the Star lake of zhaoqing, the West Lakes of Huizhou, Chaozhou and Leizhou, the Qinghui Garden, the Keyuan Garden, the Yuyinshanfang Garden, and the Shiershizai Garden. If visiting religious sites is your interest, you can visit the ancient temples of Guangxiao, Nanhua, Kaiyuan and Qingyun, the Roman Catholic Church(Shi shi), the Huaisheng Mosque, or the Protestant Church at Shamian Island.

Some of the more famous tourist sites in Guangzhou are the Five Celestials'(Five Rams) Shrine, the Chen Clan Temple, the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, the Huanghuagang Mausoleum of the 72 martyrs, the Shamian Island, the Guangzhou Museum (and the Zhenhai Tower), the Southern Yue Tomb Museum, and the Guangzhou Zoo, the largest zoo in South China.

Travel in Guangzhou is relatively simple. Use a taxi cab. If you prefer to walk, you would enjoy the adventure but be careful of pick pockets and rushing traffic.

Eating is a major leisure or necessary activity of Guangzhou residents. Guangzhou cuisine is renowned worldwide. Enjoy the local cooking! Besides the restaurants in your hotel, you might want to try the Guangzhou Restaurant, the Greenery Coffee Shop, the Hard Rock Cafe, or one of the numerous seafood restaurants.

Guangzhou has numerous shopping plazas. Beware of counterfeit products and be fast in your mental arithmetic. One U.S. dollar is equal to RMB8.26(on 19/03/01). If you are interested to visit outlets of U.S. food products, try the Friendship Supermarket, Parking Shop, or Jusco.