Accelerated industrial restructuring drives higher-than-forecast output growth

Changchun, the capital of Jilin province, has reported stable economic development as it promotes its industrial transformation and upgrading, laying a solid foundation for achieving its year-end goals.

Since the beginning of 2017, the industrial added value of companies above the designated size has continued to increase at a higher growth rate than the pace the local government expected.

Designated size refers to those businesses with more than 20 million yuan ($3.02 million) in annual revenue, a baseline often used in certain official statistics.

For the first three quarters of 2017, these companies increased their combined industrial output value by 9.6 percent, 2.7 percentage points higher than the province's overall growth rate, as they generated 760.54 billion yuan in combined industrial output value.

The steady growth of the industrial economy is mainly due to the strong growth of key industries and the private sector, according to the local authorities.

In January to September, the three traditional pillar industries in Changchun - automobiles, agro-products and rail vehicles - increased by 8.5 percent in their combined output value year-on-year, boosting Changchun's industrial growth by 6.8 percentage points.

The output value of six emerging industries - advanced manufacturing, biopharmaceuticals, photoelectric information, new energy vehicles, new materials and big data - increased by 12.1 percent, and their contribution to the city's industrial growth reached 22.3 percent.

Private companies and small and medium-sized companies also accelerated their pace of development in the first three quarters.

The output growth of private companies above the designed size was 17.9 percent in the period, pushing up the city's overall industrial growth by 4.2 percentage points.

The growth rate of small and medium-sized companies stood at 14.1 percent.

With the city advancing reforms in the private sector, more than 27,600 new private businesses were registered with local industrial and commercial authorities during the period, up 22.85 percent year-on-year.

Investment projects are another key driving force behind the growth.

More than 5,300 projects were under construction during the first three quarters of this year, including 40 large investments and 60 new ones, each with a planned annual production output value of at least 100 million yuan.

From January to September, industrial investment in the city totaled 214.66 billion yuan, an increase of 9.6 percent year-on-year. The growth enabled the city to rank No 5 among the sub-provincial cities in the country.

Changchun has made full use of the Made in China 2025 strategy, advancing many projects and upgrading its manufacturing sector.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, has praised the city's achievements in advancing the national strategy, and in promoting steady industrial growth and transformation.

Six companies in Changchun obtained more than 100 million yuan in special funds from the central government during the period, equivalent to that allocated in the past five years.

The city's work on promoting innovation and entrepreneurship has also been applauded by the central government's supervision group.

The friendly climate for startup businesses and innovation has helped to establish 13 related centers covering 290,000 square meters in the city this year.

Nearly 770 new businesses have joined the incubators, creating jobs for more than 7,500 people.

Changchun is advancing smart city system construction, which will involve 20 key projects.

Currently, an information technology-based administrative service system supported by telecom company Huawei, featuring its cloud-computing technologies, has already gone online.

An online industrial data platform developed by IT service and hardware provider Inspur will be launched soon, according to local officials.

Han Lu contributed to this story.

(China Daily 11/21/2017 page10)