Guangdong province’s high import and export volume has been attributed in part to the restructuring and upgrading of foreign trade companies and innovation in science and technology.

Ding Xiaozhi, a professor with the Economics and Management College of Zhaoqing University, said many Guangdong companies that have made rapid progress in their industrial restructuring and upgrading have shown a strong ability in developing innovation in science and technology in the past year.

“And that has helped them further improve the quality of export products to boost foreign trade,” Ding told China Daily.

“With the release of the development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, Guangdong’s foreign trade will maintain its strong growth momentum throughout the year,” Ding said.

He urged the province to further expand its cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao to explore global markets and expand its foreign trade, while continuing to promote innovation in science and technology transformation and upgrading this year.

According to statistics released by Guangdong customs, Guangdong’s trade with the United States grew 0.5 percent year-on-year to reach 73.05 billion yuan ($10.9 billion) last month, but the province’s overall imports and exports increased 9.8 percent year-on-year to 630.2 billion yuan, representing 23.1 percent of the country’s total. Guangdong’s exports reached 389.14 billion, up 15.2 percent year-on-year, while its imports came to 241.06 billion yuan, up 2 percent year-on-year last month. The southern province, the nation’s biggest foreign trader had a trade surplus of 148.08 billion yuan last month.

China’s foreign trade grew 8.7 percent in January.

Guangdong’s import and export trade with the European Union grew 25.5 percent year-on-year to reach 80.66 billion yuan in first month of the year, according to Guangdong customs.

“Guangdong’s foreign trade has achieved a very good start thanks to the development of innovation and companies’ transformation and upgrading,” Ding said.

Earlier this year, Guangdong Governor Ma Xingrui urged related departments and cities in the province to deepen reforms to further their competitiveness in advanced manufacturing through scientific and technological innovation.

Wang Ruijun, director general of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology, said the Guangdong provincial government had spared no effort to promote innovation after President Xi Jinping urged Guangdong to further develop its innovative industries during last year’s two sessions — the annual meetings of China’s top legislative and advisory bodies.

“Last year, Guangdong invested more than 4 billion yuan to construct advanced laboratories and other scientific research projects to help support the province’s innovation development and encouraged local companies to boost scientific and technological innovation to make them become more competitive,” he added.

Meanwhile, Guangzhou Development District took the lead in scientific and technological innovation among 219 State-level development zones in the mainland last year, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Commerce in January.

As a result of the development of innovation, Guangdong’s exports of electronic products increased 13.8 percent year-on-year to 262.88 billion yuan in January, accounting for 67.6 percent of the province’s total.

Most of the exported electronic products are new and high-tech products, according to Guangdong customs.

Of them, exports of automatic data processing equipment and parts grew by 24.1 percent to 20.48 billion yuan, while exports of integrated circuits increased by 86.7 percent to reach 7.99 billion yuan.