In 2024, the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) recorded 749.39 billion yuan in imports and exports, marking a robust year-on-year growth of 25.6%. This figure accounted for 8.2% of Guangdong's total foreign trade value and contributed 1.8 percentage points to the province's overall trade growth.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Guangdong FTZ's establishment. Over the past decade, customs authorities have launched 68 replicable innovations to enhance the FTZ's operational efficiency.

Under the port cooperation model, the average cargo dwell time has been reduced from 5–7 days to less than 2 days, saving enterprises more than 220 million yuan in logistics costs annually. Air cargo can now undergo consolidation, security checks and customs clearance at one stop in the bonded zones of Nansha (Guangzhou) and Qianhai (Shenzhen), saving logistics time and costs by 30%.

Customs has also reformed cross-border systems between Guangdong and the ports of Hong Kong and Macao.

In inspection and quarantine, application batches for supervision have been reduced by 99%, and efficiency has improved by nearly 58%. In 2024 alone, Guangdong supplied Macao with 2,685 tons of aquatic products.

In the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, a year after implementing the new customs management system, 23.81 million people and 2.544 million vehicles passed through the "first-line," an increase of over 30% year-on-year. The "second-line" handled nearly 19.37 million vehicle exits.

In the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone, electronic components worth 165.99 billion yuan were traded in 2024, up 34.1%. The zone also launched China's first bonded offshore soybean spot trading warehouse. Meanwhile, Mawan Smartport handled 4.083 million TEUs, up 19.6%.

Nansha continued to lead China in cross-border e-commerce for the fifth consecutive year, with 27.02 billion yuan in bonded imports and exports, up 13%. The district is also emerging as South China's largest aircraft leasing hub, with over 100 firms established and 172 aircraft imported via bonded leasing, totaling over 100 billion yuan in value.

Photo | Guangdong Sub-administration of GACC