Workers are busy on a smart assembly line of GAC Aion in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, in June. [Photo/Xinhua]

The manufacturing sector, which has been prioritized across Guangdong province — an economic powerhouse in South China — played a significant role in driving local economic development in 2023, said a senior government official.

"We adhere to the principle of the real economy as the foundation and prioritize the manufacturing industry, thus making significant progress in the construction of a modern industrial system," said Wang Weizhong, governor of Guangdong.

Wang made the remarks while delivering a government work report to the annual session of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress, which opened on Tuesday in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong.

The added value of the manufacturing sector in Guangdong accounted for 32.7 percent of the province's gross domestic product, which grew 4.8 percent year-on-year to 13.57 trillion yuan ($1.89 trillion) in 2023, according to the report.

The performance indicates that Guangdong has become the first province nationwide to surpass 13 trillion yuan in GDP growth, also ranking tops in the country for 35 consecutive years.

"We have launched an action to promote the development of major industries, especially eight industrial clusters worth 1 trillion yuan each, and to accelerate the development of new industrial clusters," said Wang.

The province has developed over 71,000 industrial enterprises above a designated size of 20 million yuan in business sales each and over 75,000 high-tech enterprises, with both metrics ranking tops nationwide, according to the report.

The eight industrial clusters include new-generation electronic information, green petrochemicals, intelligent home appliances, advanced materials, modern light industry and textiles, software and information services, modern agriculture, foodstuffs and autos.

Citing the robust development of the automobile industry, Wang said one out of four new energy vehicles nationwide is currently made in Guangdong.

An intelligent ecological factory of GAC Aion, a major NEV arm of Guangdong-based automaker GAC Group, has been selected as the world's only "lighthouse factory" for the production of NEVs. Also, an industrial park of BYD and a factory of Xpeng, both now successful homegrown NEV manufacturers, have commenced full-scale production in the province.

Guangdong has also become the province with the most comprehensive support for the energy storage battery industry nationwide, with 100 new energy storage projects under construction and a total investment of 229 billion yuan.

In the development of integrated circuits, two 12-inch chip manufacturing lines and high-end lithography lines were put into operation last year, helping greatly improve production efficiency of the local automobile industry, Wang added.

Following the rapid development of the modern agriculture and food industry, nearly 100,000 fishermen in Zhanjiang, a coastal city in western Guangdong, became involved in the aquaculture of golden pompano, said Liang Siqiao, vice-president of the Zhanjiang General Chamber of Commerce.

The total output value of catching and harvesting the fish has reached over 20 billion yuan, Liang said.

"It has greatly inspired our confidence in vigorously developing deep-sea aquaculture and solidifying our determination to develop marine ranches," said Liang, who is also a deputy to the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress.

Zhanjiang, the largest aquaculture base in Guangdong, has 3,500 deep-sea fish containment facilities, accounting for one-seventh of the national total and 70 percent of the provincial total, Liang added.