Survey: Small businesses struggle to survive along Pearl River Delta

GUANGZHOU - Small businesses in the Pearl River Delta have gloomy profit projections for this year due to a number of factors, especially rising production costs and tightened liquidity, a survey has found.

The survey, conducted by the National School of Development of Peking University and Alibaba Group, targeted some 3,000 small businesses in the delta region that have no more than 30 million yuan ($4.7 million) in annual sales revenue and employ no more than 100 workers.

The average profit for small companies in the delta region is predicted to fall by about 30 percent this year due to the harsh domestic and global economic situation, compared with that of 2010, the survey said.