Foreign trade figures show recovery

Guangdong Province, a major economic powerhouse in southern China, is reporting a recovery in foreign trade volume. Figures returned to their pre-crisis level in the first quarter of this year.

According to data released by local customs officials, Guangdong's external trade amounted to 153 billion US dollars between January and March, a growth of 33 percent from the same period last year.

The number was up nearly two percent from the same period in 2008, prior to the global economic downturn. But the province's export values have failed to recover to pre-crisis levels so far, due largely to increasing production costs, slow recovery in demand abroad, and trade barriers on international markets.