According to a statement released by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, trade between the province of Guangdong and Italy has maintained its rapid growth, increasing to $4.02 billion in 2005 from $1.62 billion in 2000. This equates to year-on-year growth of 20%.

In the period January to July this year, trade between Guangdong and Italy amounted to $2.64 billion, up 13.1% compared with the same period last year and of the 25 member countries of the EU, Italy became the fifth largest trading partner of Guangdong. Leather imports from Italy to Guangdong exceeded $100 million for the period whilst electronic parts and machinery imports also increased significantly.