Strong power consumption growth in southern China underscores industrial upgrading and foreign trade resilience

Power consumption across five southern Chinese provinces and autonomous regions has maintained robust growth in the first half of the year, reflecting solid economic vitality, continuous industrial upgrading and improving foreign trade structure. Total social electricity usage in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hainan reached 901.21 billion kilowatt-hours, rising 8.6 per cent year on year and outpacing the national average growth rate by 3.3 percentage points. Power demand across primary, secondary and tertiary industries, together with residential consumption, registered broad-based increases, with growth rates of 9.4 per cent, 8.8 per cent, 10.7 per cent and 5.4 per cent respectively. Secondary and tertiary industries serve as the core driving forces behind regional power consumption expansion.

Electricity consumption is a key barometer of macroeconomic performance. The latest operational data demonstrates vigorous development of high-end manufacturing, digital industries and new energy transportation sectors in southern China. Continuous optimisation of foreign trade quality and structure has strengthened economic new momentum across the region.

Hainan has recorded the fastest power consumption growth among the five regions, while Guangdong contributes the largest incremental electricity demand. Hainan’s full-half-year power usage climbed 12.5 per cent year on year, ranking among the top four nationwide for consecutive months. Booming port logistics and industrial clustering driven by free trade port policies have fuelled robust power demand growth. Yangpu Port’s electricity consumption hit 12.146 million kilowatt-hours in the first half of the year, with a year-on-year increase of 45.9 per cent, becoming a major growth driver for local grid load. The province’s goods export volume surged 147.3 per cent year on year from January to May, translating opening-up dividends into tangible industrial power demand.

As China’s largest economic province, Guangdong dominates regional power consumption growth, contributing 54.8 per cent of the total electricity increment in the southern grid coverage area with a year-on-year growth of 9.1 per cent and an additional consumption of 39.24 billion kilowatt-hours. High-end equipment manufacturing industries show strong upward momentum. Power usage from automobile manufacturing, computer and electronic equipment manufacturing, and electrical machinery sectors rose 10.6 per cent, delivering a 13.3 per cent contribution to regional electricity growth. The new energy vehicle manufacturing sector in Guangdong achieved a 58.4 per cent year-on-year increase in power consumption, accounting for 89.4 per cent of the sector’s total usage across southern China.

Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou have seen steady power consumption growth supported by featured industrial development, with year-on-year electricity growth of 10.9 per cent, 7.9 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively. Yunnan’s new energy battery industry has expanded rapidly amid favourable market prices and production capacity expansion. The fast-growing construction of new energy heavy-duty vehicle charging and swapping facilities has driven a 95 per cent year-on-year surge in power consumption for local charging services. Driven by industrial expansion across the southern region, the overall power usage of the charging and swapping service industry increased 49.3 per cent year on year in the first half of the year.

Industrial electricity data fully validates the continuous upgrading of manufacturing quality and efficiency. Nine high-end equipment manufacturing sectors in southern China recorded positive power consumption growth, with overall usage rising 9.7 per cent year on year. These industries account for 20.4 per cent of total industrial power consumption and contribute 21.6 per cent of industrial electricity increment. The purchasing managers’ indices for China’s high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing stood at 53.5 and 52.5 in June, signalling sustained industrial expansion. Booming high-end manufacturing and thriving domestic and overseas markets consolidate the foundation of regional industrial development.

Stable and high-quality power supply guarantees the rapid iteration of intelligent manufacturing. Fully automated unmanned production workshops in Guangdong operate around the clock to support large-scale export-oriented production. High-end home appliance products manufactured locally have achieved strong market expansion in Europe, with overseas sales volume maintaining rapid growth. Reliable power supply capacity and green power traceability systems support high-intensity, intelligent production modes amid surging overseas orders.

Industrial upgrading continues to drive qualitative changes in foreign trade structure. Driven by the booming global artificial intelligence industrial chain and returning export orders, production and power consumption of export-oriented sectors including special equipment manufacturing and instrumentation manufacturing have remained active. National trade data shows mechanical and electrical products dominate export growth, with integrated circuit and automobile export values jumping 88.7 per cent and 48.3 per cent year on year. China’s foreign trade is accelerating its shift toward high-value and high-technology products, forming new growth engines centred on advanced manufacturing.

The digital economy has achieved comprehensive expansion across southern China, forming a complete industrial chain covering substrate production, computing centre operation and cross-border digital service exports. In Dongguan, power consumption of electronic material manufacturing enterprises increased 49.8 per cent year on year amid strong demand for AI server components. In Guian New Area, robust expansion of digital infrastructure has pushed power usage in the information service industry up 70.9 per cent year on year. The completion of supporting power infrastructure ensures stable energy supply for large-scale computing clusters.

Relying on major national computing hubs, southern China is optimising high-quality computing resource allocation and opening cross-border digital service channels to Southeast Asia and global markets. The integrated industrial ecosystem spans semiconductor manufacturing, cloud computing operation and digital export services, delivering continuous value upgrading across the whole industrial chain. Power consumption of upstream computer communication and electrical machinery industries increased 12.1 per cent and 7.6 per cent respectively. The expanding digital infrastructure has driven a 28.6 per cent year-on-year rise in data centre power usage across the region, with core computing hub cities recording substantial consumption growth. Cross-border digital service enterprises have achieved rapid business and electricity usage expansion.

Rising power consumption in southern China mirrors the continuous transformation and upgrading of regional economic momentum. The dual development of digital and green industries, together with synergistic growth in high-end manufacturing and foreign trade exports, will further consolidate the high-quality development foundation of the regional economy.