It was recently learned from the Jingzhou Municipal Bureau of Statistics that, in the first three quarters of 2023, Jingzhou accelerated the transformation of economic drives with a promising trend on both supply and demand sides, and favorable and efficient economic growth. The city’s GDP saw a high increase of 6.6% (0.6% higher than the provincial average), which helped it consistently earned a top spot across the province. The growth of fixed investment ranked second in the province for four consecutive months.
On the supply side, Jingzhou boasted one of the fastest growing primary and secondary industries in Hubei Province, and a tertiary industry with ongoing stable growth.
The first three quarters saw the growth of summer grain and early-season rice, the ample supply of fruits and vegetables, and a prosperous fishery industry with increased production efficiency. The gross output of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery amounted to CNY80.940 billion, up by 5.3% from the same period of the previous year (the second highest in the province and 0.9% higher than the provincial average); the added value of industries above designated size increased by 8.3% from the same period of the previous year (2.7% higher than the provincial average). There were 25 of the 36 major industries with positive growth in the added value, and 15 companies that newly achieved a gross output growth of over CNY100 million, which contributed to the development of the industrial economy.
From January to August, the operating income of 325 service companies above designated size in Jingzhou stood at CNY15.021 billion, up by 2.8% from the same period of the previous year. Among them, other for-profit service industries contributed CNY3.86 billion, up by 22.1% from the same period of the previous year (10.6% higher than the provincial average); other transportation industries contributed CNY1.461 billion, up by 48.5% from the same period of the previous year (higher than the provincial average: 29.6%).
On the demand side, investment and consumption were gaining momentum.
In the first three quarters, fixed investments in Jingzhou increased by 9.6% from the same period of the previous year (3.1% higher than that in the first half of the year, and 4.1% higher than the provincial average), and their growth ranked second in the province for four consecutive months since June. Steady progress in a host of large industrial projects such as Hualu-Hengsheng’s syngas and gas power platform, Yuntu’s new energy materials project, and Xianhe’s pulp and papermaking project guaranteed effective support for the rapid growth of industrial investments across the city, which was 13.3% higher than the provincial average. Moreover, the launch of an array of large transportation projects such as the Wuhan-Songzi Expressway, the Libu Yangtze River Railway Bridge, and the Songzi Section of the Dangyang-Zhijiang-Songzi Expressway picked up pace, driving up the growth of infrastructure investments.
In the first three quarters, the retail sales of consumer goods stood at CNY118.857 billion, up by 8.6% from the same period of the previous year. Among them, the revenue from catering grew faster than retail sales of commodity, the sales of grain, oil, food, daily necessities and communication equipment maintained rapid growth, and the market of durable consumer goods sped up recovery.
Data shows gaining momentum in economic development and innovation.
The development of high-tech industries picked up pace. There were 743 high-tech industrial organizations above designated size across the city (a net increase of 184 from the same period of the previous year), which produced a high-tech added value of CNY35.02 billion. Among them, there were 682 high-tech manufacturing companies above designated size, a net increase of 163 from the same period of the previous year; and 53 high-tech service companies, a net increase of 21 from the same period of the previous year.
High-tech investments grew more rapidly. The investment in the high-tech manufacturing sector increased by32.7% from the same period of the previous year (58.8% higher than that of the previous year); the investment in the high-tech service sector grew by 34.2% from the previous year (28.2% higher than that of the previous year), and its proportion in the tertiary industry also increased compared with the same period of the previous year.