Photo taken on June 7, 2026, shows a view of Nansha Port in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province. [Photo/VCG]

Trade between Guangzhou and ASEAN reached 146.4 billion yuan ($21.9 billion) over the first eight months of the year, up 6.6 percent year-on-year, driven by growing vehicle exports and surging fresh produce imports, Guangzhou Customs said Thursday.

On Sept 11, a ro-ro vessel carrying 2,770 Chinese-built new-energy vehicles departed the Nansha Port's automobile terminal for Thailand, Vietnam, and other ASEAN nations after customs clearance. Nansha Customs figures indicated that its vehicle exports topped 360,000 units from January to August, up nearly 37 percent year-on-year, with exports to ASEAN reaching 67,000 units, a 26 percent year-on-year rise.

"Vehicle exports to ASEAN have been on the rise since the beginning of the year, with double-digit growth for four months running. New-energy vehicles made up more than 90 percent of car shipments to ASEAN," said Lu Chunrong, assistant general manager of Guangzhou Port Nansha Automobile Terminal Co. "The quickest voyage from Nansha to Indonesia, Thailand and other ASEAN countries takes merely three days," she said.

On the import side, about 55 metric tons of fresh Thai pomelos arrived at Nansha Port on Sept 9 and were cleared and dispatched to supermarkets nationwide. In the first eight months, Nansha Customs handled 175,000 metric tons of fresh fruit imported from ASEAN, up nearly 6 percent year-on-year, with durian, coconut, and banana the top three by volume.

Nansha Port runs over 180 overseas liner services. It has built an integrated logistics operation covering direct procurement at origin, port clearance, and cold-chain distribution across the Greater Bay Area, positioning it as a major southern China gateway for Southeast Asian tropical fruit imports, the statement said.