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TRADER HOME / PEARL RIVER DELTA
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The Pearl River Delta: Production Basin and Emerging Market |
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| An economic powerhouse - The Pearl River Delta is one of the largest manufacturing basins in the world, the fastest growing region in China, and home to 30 million who are among the wealthiest consumers in the Chinese mainland. |
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Just north of Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland's Pearl River Delta (PRD) occupies the low-lying areas adjacent to China's Pearl River (Zhujiang River) where it flows into the South China Sea. The Pearl River Delta is one of the mainland's principal economic engines and one of the world's largest manufacturing basins, with a GDP just above HK$778 billion (US$100 billion) in 2001. Abundant employment opportunities in the delta region have created a rising middle-income and professional class. The PRD has a permanent resident population rising to 30 million and is also the temporary home to about 12 million migrant workers from other parts of China. The PRD's long-term residents have a per capita income close to HK$29,564 (US$3,800), placing them among the mainland’s wealthiest consumers.
In 1978, the Chinese Government began a reform process that would open the Pearl River Delta to foreign trade and investment, ahead of the rest of China. This historic decision gave the Pearl River Delta a "first mover" advantage vis-a-vis the rest of the mainland in developing private enterprise, manufacturing capabilities and foreign trade. Maximizing interaction with Hong Kong, the Pearl River Delta has become the manufacturing powerhouse of China. |
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It leads all of China in the manufacture of a wide variety of electronics and communication products. Hong Kong-invested industries located throughout the delta are among the world’s largest exporters of electronics, plastics, soft goods, household items, gifts and premium wares, toys, watches and clocks, garments and accessories. The Pearl River Delta sets cost and price standards for these products worldwide.
Hong Kong is located at the doorstep of the Pearl River Delta. The combination of Hong Kong's world-class business platform and the PRD is a potent one for overseas firms. It allows businesses from all over the world to centralise their high-value activities for China in Hong Kong, a world-class business city, while decentralising other activities into the Pearl River Delta, the mainland's leading cost-competitive export processing base. Firms of many different nationalities have already organised themselves on this Hong Kong-Plus business model in order to source, produce and sell in China with maximum profitability and minimum risk. |
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~ We thank Ms. Edith Scott for her contribution to this article. ~
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| Hong Kong shares a boundary with the Pearl River Delta, a cluster of cities and counties across an area of 41,698 square kilometres |
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