GUANGZHOU -- Foreign trade in south China's Guangdong province, the nation's key production and export base, declined 16.7 percent year-on-year in January, local authorities announced Friday.

Exports totaled $39.05 billion, down 9.2 percent, while imports contracted by 27.2 percent to $22.76 billion, according to local customs statistics.

Total foreign trade stood at 61.81 billion dollars, with a surplus of $16.29 billion, statistics show.

Guangdong's foreign trade accounted for 22.7 percent of the country's total last month.

The decrease was partly blamed on the week-long Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, which ran from January 22-28.

Nevertheless, customs officials believed the decline indicated that Guangdong, as a region highly reliant on foreign trade, had entered a "difficult" period against the backdrop of a complicated international situation of Euro-American economic slowdown and instabilities in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Guangdong's businesses had seen their operating costs increase due to rises in costs of raw materials and labor.