GUANGZHOU, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Guangdong Province, China's largest regional economy, has seen a sharp decline in its trade surplus from January to April, provincial customs data showed.

During the first four months of the year, imports to the province climbed 15.1 percent to 865.5 billion yuan (136 billion U.S. dollars) while the trade surplus narrowed 24.5 percent to 373.2 billion yuan.

"Imports have become the major force of Guangdong's trade growth," said Li Kaiyi from the General Administration of Customs' Guangdong branch.

Imports of mechanical and electrical products such as integrated circuits and automatic data processing equipment registered a large growth in the period, demonstrating an upgrading trend of Chinese companies' industrial chain.

In the meantime, exports of Guangdong's labor intensive products continued to shrink. Home textiles, clothing, furniture, suitcases, shoes, and lamps all registered a double-digit decline.

Ma Xingrui, the provincial governor, said Guangdong will adopt a more active import policy and is expected to buy more high-tech products, industrial, raw materials, and high quality consumer goods from other countries.