Delta processing firms grapple with slump

Processing trade companies in the Pearl River Delta are opening overseas manufacturing bases and turning to e-commerce to escape a downturn in their traditional business.

The slump in the region, one of the world's workshops, is due to the slow recovery in overseas markets and the authorities' drive to upgrade traditional industries, sources said.

Zhong Feifei, deputy administrative director of Meizhou Guowei Electronics Co, said that the company, which makes and sells telephone sets for Google Inc's Motorola Mobility division, has been struggling to increase business amid a slow overseas recovery.