Zhanjiang's 'Four Green plus One Blue' strategy boosts economy

Zhanjiang, a coastal city in Guangdong province, has been promoting a development strategy focused on what local officials describe as "Four Green plus One Blue Industries", covering green steel, petrochemicals, energy, food production, and the marine economy.

At a news conference in Guangzhou on Thursday, Zhanjiang Mayor Li Yongyi said the city had made progress in building industrial clusters around green petrochemicals and modern agriculture and food processing. According to Li, the annual output value of each of these sectors exceeded 100 billion yuan ($14.3 billion) last year.

Li said the city's overall economic strength had improved, supported by several large-scale industrial projects that have either entered production or moved forward in construction.

These included the BASF Zhanjiang Verbund project, Baosteel Zhanjiang, the Zhongke (Guangdong) Refinery and Petrochemical project, the Lianjiang nuclear power project, and the Xuwen offshore wind power plant.

Zhanjiang's gross regional product is expected to exceed 400 billion yuan in 2025, while industrial added value is projected to surpass 100 billion yuan. The growth rate of the industrial added value of enterprises above a designated size is expected to achieve double-digit growth.

Zhanjiang currently ranks first in Guangdong in terms of the scale of grid-connected centralized onshore wind power and photovoltaic power, and places among the province's top three cities for competitiveness in the marine economy.

Located in the Leizhou Peninsula, Zhanjiang borders the South China Sea on three sides and has the longest coastline in Guangdong. The city is also adjacent to the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and faces Hainan Island, factors local officials say give it advantages in marine industries and potential for seaside tourism development.