Foreign investment surges into Guangzhou's fashion and consumer sector, with wholesale and retail businesses experiencing explosive growth. New data shows that utilized foreign capital in these sectors jumped 50.4% year-on-year to 410 million yuan between January and April 2025.
This was noted at a salon organized by the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce to connect governmental departments and foreign companies in Guangzhou on June 10. The capital city of South China's Guangdong province is now leveraging its vast scale and unique advantages to attract global brands.
Guangzhou now hosts over 50,000 foreign enterprises, including 362 Fortune 500 companies. The city offers unrivaled consumer reach with a peak urban population of 28 million and an annual net inflow exceeding 500,000 residents. Retail sales from January to April reached RMB 3.76 trillion, growing 4%, the fastest pace among China's tier-1 cities. Its RMB 6 trillion wholesale-retail ecosystem facilitates global sourcing, amplified by duty-free infrastructure. This includes an upcoming downtown duty-free store in the core CBD of Zhujiang New Town, targeting luxury repatriation.
Recent reforms prioritize IP safeguards and customs innovation. The incentives accelerate product launches through expedited permits, rent subsidies, and customs clearance, with authorities pledging further import facilitation for exhibitions. These measures are yielding results: 2,664 new foreign-funded enterprises opened in the first four months of 2025, up 14.9%, attracting 11.54 billion yuan in foreign capital.
The Guangzhou government is driving momentum with faster customs clearance for limited-edition product launches.
Additionally, the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce confirmed that quarterly investment salons, with upcoming sessions focused on F&B, AI, and robotics, will advance its latest industrial modernization agenda. "Guangzhou's value lies not just in scale, but in optimizing global resources," stated a senior official.
Reporter: Hu Nan
Photo: Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce
Editor: James, Shen He
