China News Service, Guangzhou, September 16 (Xu Qingzhen, Guan Yue) 2026 marks the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership. China and ASEAN have been each other's largest trading partners for many consecutive years. With the completion and upgrade of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement and the signing and entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the level of bilateral trade and investment cooperation continues to improve. According to Guangzhou Customs statistics, from January to August this year, Guangzhou's imports and exports to ASEAN reached 146.4 billion yuan (the same below), a year-on-year increase of 6.6%.
Guangzhou Nansha Automobile Port is the largest automobile roll-off terminal cluster in South China. Data provided by Nansha Customs, a subsidiary of Guangzhou Customs, shows that in the first eight months of this year, Guangzhou Nansha Automobile Port's roll-on and roll-off vehicles exported more than 360,000 vehicles, an increase of nearly 37% year-on-year; of which 67,000 vehicles were exported to ASEAN, an increase of 26% year-on-year.
"Since the beginning of this year, the port's automobile exports to ASEAN have maintained double-digit growth for four consecutive months, and new energy vehicles account for more than 90% of the total exports to ASEAN. Shipping from Nansha to Indonesia, Thailand and other ASEAN countries only takes three days at the fastest." Lu Chunrong, assistant general manager of Guangzhou Port Nansha Automobile Terminal Co., Ltd. said.
ASEAN specialty fresh agricultural products also rely on efficient logistics channels to reach mainland consumers fresher and faster. In the first eight months of this year, Nansha Customs monitored 175,000 tons of fresh fruits imported from ASEAN, a year-on-year increase of nearly 6%. As a core comprehensive hub port in South China, Nansha Port has opened more than 180 foreign trade liner routes, among which there are many routes and intensive voyages connecting Thailand, Cambodia and other Southeast Asian main fruit producing areas.
"Tropical fruits have a short preservation period, and high temperatures can easily cause overripeness of the fruit, resulting in changes in taste and price. The faster the customs clearance, the more guaranteed the freshness. Nansha Port has outstanding customs clearance efficiency. It only takes 2 hours for inbound fruits to be unloaded and sent to the wholesale market," said He Jiali, senior business manager of Guangzhou Nansha International Cold Chain Co., Ltd.
Bilateral trade formats are diversified and cross-border industrial chains are also deeply linked. Many domestic companies rely on ASEAN's location advantages to deploy overseas factories and form an industrial chain model of domestic parts export and overseas assembly and production.
Guangzhou Guoguang Electric Co., Ltd. began to expand its overseas layout in 2019 and set up a production base in Vietnam. It has now become an important growth pole for the company to expand production and expand the market. "Seventy percent of our customers come from overseas markets, putting forward higher requirements for the supporting capabilities of the global supply chain." Luo Lijuan, logistics director of Guoguang Electric said.
The establishment of overseas factories by enterprises involves many aspects, such as the export of equipment, materials and parts, and preferential treatment by countries of origin. In order to help enterprises locate in ASEAN production bases, Huadu Customs, a subsidiary of Guangzhou Customs, has deployed AEO coordinators to regularly meet the needs of enterprises, collect and sort out cross-border logistics congestion points, promote the application of logistics reform models such as "One Port Connect", and ensure the smooth export of production materials to the sea.
