The Great Wall Online

Cui Changzheng, deputy secretary-general of the People's Government of Hebei Province, introduced Hebei’s economic situation in 2005 on a press conference held by the People's Government of Hebei Province on January 26, 2006. We extract some statistic data from the document as the follows.

    In 2004, under the correct leadership of the Hebei Provincial Committee of CPC and the Hebei Provincial People’s Government, and guided by Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of “Three Represents”, people of all nationalities of Hebei Province thoroughly implemented the policies since the 16th National Congress of CPC, built up and carried out the concept of scientific development, carefully followed the measures of macroeconomic regulation set by the central government and further advanced major tasks, as a result, the provincial economy made a rapid growth, and the total economy reached the best level in recent years. Reform in various fields further improved and Hebei was opening wider to the outside world. Social undertakings progressed in full wing. The living standard of urban and rural population continued to improve. The main targets for the economic and social development had been achieved satisfactorily. Hebei attained the strategic goal of quadrupling its GDP one year ahead of time (Hebei’s GDP reached RMB800 billion in 2005). Preliminary estimation indicated that the provincial GDP increased by 12.9% over the previous year and reached RMB883.69 billion, the highest increase range since 1997. Per capita GDP reached RMB13, 017, up by 12.2 percent, based on passing that of RMB10, 000 last year. This is the highest growth rate since 1997.

    The good harvest was achieved and new changes appeared in farming. In 2004, the sown areas of grain was 90.05 million mu (about 6 million hectares), an increase of 1.0 percent compared with that of the previous year, and the sown areas of cotton was 10.04 million mu (669,133 hectares), an increase of 15.1 percent compared with that of the previous year. The sown areas of oil-bearing crops was 8.75 million mu (583,600 hectares), a decrease of 8 percent compared with that of the previous year, and the sown areas of vegetables was 16.23 million mu (1.08 million hectares), an increase of 1.3 percent compared with that of the previous year.

    The total output of grain in 2004 was 24.80 million tons, up by 3.9 percent over that of last year, reversing the tide of output reduction in the past five years. The output of cotton in 2004, the third largest output ever, was 665,000 tons, up by 27.4 percent; that of oil-bearing crops was 1.54 million tons, down by 5.4 percent. The output of vegetable was 61.88 million tons, up by 4.8 percent over that of last year.

    Animal husbandry developed rapidly. In 2004, the annual yields of meat, eggs and fresh milk were 5.4 million tons, 4.33 million tons and 2.67 million tons respectively, up 6.7 percent, 4.3 percent and 34.6 percent respectively over that of the previous year.

    Forestry and fishery have maintained a momentum of fairly good growth. In 2004, a total area of 6.21 million mu (414,000 hectares) was planted with trees, 5.70 million mu was planted. The yield of aquatic products was 928,000 tons, up by 7.6 percent.

    Structural readjustment of Hebei’s agriculture made remarkable achievements last year. With great efforts made in structural adjustment of farming, the sown areas of grain were increased. The output value of major agricultural industries took 67.7 percent in the total value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, and the contribution to agriculture production reached 70.1 percent. The process of agricultural industrialization was accelerated and radio of industrialized management of agriculture reached 45.6 percent, an increase by 1.5 percentage points compared with that of last year.

    Hebei’s agricultural infrastructures were enhanced. Irrigated areas reached 4.46 million hectares. Of this total, newly increased irrigated areas reached 56,000 hectares and the effective irrigated land reached 74.3 percent, up by 0.8 percentage point compared with that of last year. About 169,000 hectares of land were newly added to the land watered by water-saving irrigation system. Total agricultural machinery power reached 81.36 million kw, up by 4.8 percent. Electricity consumed in rural area reached 31.08 billion kw, up by 43.4 percent.

    With a rapid growth of industrial production, the total added value of the industrial sector was 415.46 billion yuan in 2004, up by 15.1 percent over the previous year. The added value of industrial enterprises above designated size (state-owned industrial enterprises and non-state-owned industrial enterprises with annual business turnover over RMB5 million) was RMB245.92 billion, up by 22.2 percent, the best outcome since 1993.

    The economical gains of the industrial enterprises rose remarkably. The total profits of Hebei industrial enterprises above designated size reached RMB5.13 billion, up by 34.2 percent. Of this total, the profits of state-owned and state-holding enterprises stood at RMB20.46 billion, up by 29.5 percent; that of share-holding enterprise reached RMB22.65 billion, up by 27.3 percent; that of foreign invested enterprises and enterprises invested by investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan stood at RMB8.92 billion, up by 13.3 percent, and that of the private enterprises was RMB10.69 billion, up by 60.0 percent. Among 38 industrial sectors, 31 achieved increased their profits. The ferrous metal smelting and pressing industry, petroleum and natural gas extraction, and ferrous metal mining and dressing industry were the major factors to pull the profit growth, making a contribution of 56.5 percent to the total profit growth of the province.

    Steady progress was made in industrial structural readjustment. High technology and advanced technology were actively utilized to transform and upgrade traditional industries. The leading industries developed quickly, playing an important role in the development of Hebei’s economy. The industrial added value of iron and steel industry, textile industry, petroleum processing industry, chemical industry, pharmaceutical industry, construction material industry and foodstuff industry accounted for 55.4 percent of total industry added value, and the contribution rate to industry development was 62 percent. High-tech industry, such as biological technology, modern pharmaceutical, IT and new material, maintained a rapid growth. In the enterprises, the added value of hi-tech industry reached RMB24.29 billion, up 23.1 percent over that of the previous year.

    With the rapid growth of major energy and raw material products, the output of coal was up by 9.6 percent; that of coke was up by 57.6 percent; that of pig iron was up by 28.3 percent; that of crude steel went up by 38.7 percent; that of rolled steel was up by 28.3 percent; that of motor vehicles was up by 28.5 percent and the electricity generated grew by 15.4 percent.

    Consumer markets in Hebei presented a prosperous scene. In 2004, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached RMB252.29 billion, up by 15.8 percent over that of the previous year, the highest level since 1998. The urban and rural markets have been brisk, and the gap between the urban and rural areas was gradually narrowed. The retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas reached RMB124.06 billion, up by 16.6 percent, and the retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas was RMB128.23 billion, up by 15.2 percent. In terms of different sectors, the wholesale and retail industry reached RMB181.69 billion, up 16.6 percent, and the sales of the catering industry was RMB28.92 billion, up 23.9 percent.

    The work of opening-up made remarkable achievements. Total value of import and export in 2004 reached US$13.53 billion, up by 50.7 percent over that of the previous year, the highest level since 1990. Of this total, the value of import was US$4.19 billion, up by 37.2 percent, and the value of export was US$9.34 billion, up by 57.6 percent. Hebei's export products were upgraded. Industrial products accounted for 80.1 percent of the total export volume, up by 3.2 percent; the mechanical and electrical products and hi-tech products were up by 59.1 percent and 66.7 percent respectively. The Multi-Market strategy was promoted and the export to every continent saw all-round increase. Hebei was more closely contacted with its major trade partners in the world.

    The scale of utilizing foreign funds is expanding rapidly. The foreign capital actually utilized in Hebei went up to US$1.98 billion in 2004, up by 27.0 percent over that of the previous year. Of this total, the foreign direct investment reached US$1.62 billion, up 45.5 percent. Projects involving large amount of investment became major forces in drawing foreign capital. Foreign investment utilized through projects involving total investment above US$5 million each accounted for 80.0 percent of the total direct investment. Last year, 594 contract projects were newly approved, up by 3.7 percent. The contracted foreign capitals stood at US$2.15 billion, up by 9.3 percent.

    In 2004, Hebei made great progress in domestic opening up. A total of 4,777 technologies were introduced into Hebei from other province, up by 11.8 percent. Totally RMB4.2 million capital was introduced, up by 28.0 percent. A total of 41,000 professional personnel were introduced, up by 7.3 percent.

    The development of Hebei’s foreign economic and technological cooperation has maintained a good momentum. In 2004, newly signed contracts on foreign economic and technological cooperation involved a total value of US$530 million, an increase of 41.6 percent, with a completed turnover of US$270 million, up by 31.2 percent.
　
    With the sustained growth in people’s living standard, the per capita disposable income of urban residents was RMB7,951.3 in 2004, an increase of 9.8 percent. The per capita annual net income of rural residents rose above the level of RMB3, 000 and reached RMB3, 171, an increase of RMB318, the most rapid growth since 1997. It was caused by many factors, such as the nation’s favorable agricultural policies, prices of farm products turning high and grain production increase. The rural income increase rate was 11.1 percent, double-digit growth for the first time in the past seven years, passing that of urban citizens for the first time in the past six years. The per capita consumption expenditure for Hebei’s urban residents increased 7.0 percent; that for rural residents increased 14.7 percent. The Engel coefficients (which refer to the proportion of expenditure on food to the total expenditure of households) were 36.8 percent for urban residents and 42.5 percent for rural residents.