In the first half of 2009, Guangdong exported 56.47 billion USD worth of high-tech products, a drop of 19 percent year-on-year according to Huangpu Customs statistics. Aside from the shrinking of international markets caused by the international financial crisis, important reasons for the decline in exports include a lack of core technologies as a result of excessive dependence on processing trade, and increased international trade barriers, among other factors.

Statistics from the General Administration of Customs show that in the first half, Guangdong exported 44.63 billion USD worth high-tech products through processing trade, representing a year-on-year decrease of 22.1 percent and accounting for 79 percent of Guangdong's total high-tech product export value during the same period. The value of general trade exports in the same period stood at 9.06 billion USD, a drop of 4.6 percent.

Foreign-funded enterprises accounted for a major share of exports while private enterprises achieved growth in exports against the adverse trend. In the first half, Guangdong's foreign-funded enterprises exported 42.09 billion USD of high-tech products, representing a decrease of 19.7 percent year-on-year and accounting for 74.5 percent of the total. During the same period, private enterprises exported 4.68 billion USD of high-tech products, an increase of 6.4 percent.

Custom departments noted that the processing trade and foreign-funded enterprise export model has caused domestic enterprises to lack independent brands and an innovative research and development capacity, and thus are unable to secure a long-term competitive edge. 77.3 percent of Guangdong's high-tech export products were produced on the basis of processing trade by foreign, Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan-based enterprises in Guangdong. Export products' key core technologies and equipment mainly depend on imports.

In addition, the number of various types of trade barriers has increasing. At present, different types of foreign technical trade protection measures are emerging. Chinese enterprises have repeatedly encountered intellectual property rights challenges from multinational companies. The survival of OEM enterprises heavily depends on overseas orders because they have no overseas distribution channels. Some enterprises sell their products through overseas agents and marketing networks which were mainly constructed by middlemen, so they have no influence on product sales.

It is worth noting that after Guangdong Province's high-tech product exports stabilized between March and May, monthly exports in June stood at 10.82 billion USD, a drop of 14.6 percent year-on-year or an increase of 10.4 percent month-on-month.