China's leading exporting province is seeing a slowdown in the rate of decrease in international trade, according to the quarterly figures from Guangdong Customs.

Latest statistics show that local economy in Guangdong Province, an economic powerhouse in south China, is recovering.

The General Administration of Customs Guangdong Bureau said Sunday that although Guangdong continued to report decreases in imports and exports in the first quarter of this year, the province's decrease in foreign trade was slowing month by month.

The bureau said the province had 115.48 billion U.S. dollars worth of foreign trade in the first quarter of the year, down 23.1 percent from a year ago. It accounted for 26.9 percent of China's foreign trade total for January-March, the highest total for any province in the country.

The province's foreign trade was worth 4.79 billion U.S. dollars in March, down 18.2 percent year on year, The decrease was 12.9 percentage points, one percentage point less than in January and February.

Both Wang Yang, Secretary of Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and Governor Huang Huahua said Saturday the province's economy showed signs of recovery.

They cited a 5.5. percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) for January-March, and urged greater efforts to be made to fulfill the economic growth goal of 8.5 percent this year.

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2009)