GUANGDONG Customs' statistics show its trade value still below levels achieved before the downturn, despite a year-on-year increase of 33.4 per cent $48.9 billion in January, Logistics Week reported.

Provincial performance was lower than the nationwide 44.4 per cent trade growth rate and this was blamed on poor performance in January 2009 and last year's ill-timed Chinese New Year, which made this year's growth appear more substantial than it really was.

Compared to January 2008 when the economic crisis had not yet come, Guangdong's trade value fell 8.3 per cent, exports fell 10.8 per cent, imports dropped 4.7 per cent, also slower than major trade-oriented cities and provinces like Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, showing that the province's trade is not yet fully recovered.