Foreign orders burnish Pearl River Delta

The outlook for the Pearl River Delta's trade is expected to see a sharp rise in December following a seasonal rebound of overseas demand and implementation of a series of preferential trade policies, according to a trade service company.

The trade climax index in the Delta region, one of the major processing and trade hubs in China, stood at 101.71 in November, the highest since May, according to an industry report, which was released by Shenzhen Onetouch Business Service Co on Monday.

"The result indicates that the Delta region factory owners have more confidence in the months ahead about the sales outlook as the year winds down," said Xiao Feng, deputy general manager for Shenzhen Onetouch Business Service Co Ltd.

The increased index was a result of more preferential trade policies and a slight recovery in overseas demand for Chinese goods, according to Xiao.

"The positive trend will continue in December as more companies have seen increased new orders," said Xiao.

New orders of some 2,000 sampled companies in the Delta region in November grew by 3 percent from a month earlier.

Shenzhen Onetouch, which provides online foreign trade outsourcing services to small and medium-sized enterprises, puts out the trade reports each month.

The fall session of the China Import and Export Fair, widely known as the Canton Fair, which ended in early November, helped bring about new orders for the Delta region manufacturers, according to Xiao.

"Increased overseas orders, especially for those long-term businesses, have greatly helped ease financing pressures for Chinese exporters," Xiao said.

According to the report, orders with traditional buyers from the United States, the European Union and Russia saw a stable increase in November.

"In particular, trade with African buyers increased by 6.51 percent year-on-year for the Delta region exporters in November, indicating a great potential market in Africa," Xiao said.

China's foreign trade rose 7.7 percent to $3.77 trillion in the January-November period, according to the General Administration of Customs.

A report from the State Information Center said previously that the country's overall trade in 2014 will grow at the same pace as this year, with exports increasing 9 percent and imports 7.5 percent.

But Zhang Xingming, general manager of the Huidong Youme Shoes Factory, located in Huizhou, Guangdong province, said growing labor and production costs and the rising value of the yuan will squeeze profits.

"We have seen a slight increase of orders this year. But we don't have a higher profit due to increased production costs and particularly the stronger yuan," Zhang said.