Profiles of China Provinces, Cities and Industrial Parks

Major Economic Indicators

Notes: ¹ In real terms  ² For all state-owned enterprises and other forms with annual sales over RMB 5 million
           ³ Jan- Sep 2011
Sources: Ningxia Statistical Yearbook 2011, Ningxia Statistical Bureau, China’s Customs Statistics

General Background

Ningxia has a total area of more than 66 thousand square kilometers. Its population stood at 6.3 million in 2010. It is located in China’s north-west, linking the west region and the desert in the north.

Thanks to the irrigation provided by Yellow River, Ningxia has a well developed agricultural sector which gained Ningxia a renowned reputation of “Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall” （塞上江南）, as well as the “oasis in a desert”. With the adoption of Western China Development programme, Ningxia has gained significant development on urbanization and industrialization. Yinchuan（銀川）, the capital city, is a major city with multi-purpose functions in the north-west of China.

Industries

Ningxia has strong advantages in agriculture development: there are 19 million hectares of arable land, with 3.5 hectares per capita. With 10.7 million hectares of barren land ready to be cultivated, Ningxia is one of the 8 provinces having over 10 million hectares of barren land waiting for cultivation. It is also one of the ten pastoral areas in China. In 2010, the value-added of primary industry increased by 7.4%.

Composition of GDP (%)

Source:Ningxia Statistical Yearbook 2011.

Based on the advantages on resources such as coal, petroleum, gypsum, natural gas, wool and so on, Ningxia has established an industrial system leaded by coal industry, metallurgical industry, chemical industry and wool textile industry etc.

Output Value Share of Leading Industry Groups (2010)

Source: Ningxia Statistical Yearbook 2011

Among tertiary industries, in terms of value-added, the sector of transport, storage and post was the leading sector accounting for 8.6% of the GDP in 2010, followed by the sector of wholesale, retail, hoteling and catering services, with a share of 7.1% of GDP. The financial sector accounted for 5.8%.

Tourism

Ningxia’s abundant tourism resources include desert landscapes, the Yellow River civilization, the West Xia Dynasty culture（西夏文明）and the Hui’s customs（回族風情）etc. There are two national scenic spots at Sand Lake（沙湖）and Shapotou（沙坡頭）. The tourism zone at Mount Liupan（六盤山）is also famous. For cultural tourism resources, Ningxia has the Shuidonggou Relics Site（水洞溝遺址）which is a proof of the prihistoric civilization of China; the West Xia mausoleums（西夏王陵）are grand at scale and special in architecture.

Source:Ningxia Tourism Department

Foreign Trade

Major exports included ferrosilicon, megnesium, cashmere sweater, and tires. Major imports were minaral products and machinery products.

Major Export Markets of Ningxia in 2010

Source: Ningxia Statistical Yearbook, 2011

Major Sources of Imports of Ningxia in 2010

Source: Ningxia Statistical Yearbook, 2011

Foreign Investment

In 2010, Ningxia signed 25 contracts of FDI with contracted investment amount of US$284 million. Utilized FDI went into Ningxia reached US$80.9 million.

Hong Kong is the largest source of FDI, accounting for 78% of the province’s utilised amount of FDI in 2010. Other major FDI sources included the British Virgin Islands and Singapore. Industry accounted for more than 83% of the contracted FDI in 2010.

Ningxia is planning to attract investment in the following sectors: deep processing of agricultural products, applying techniques of water-conservation irrigation, production of downstream chemical products of natural gas, highway passenger transportation etc.

Consumer Market

In 2010, annual per capita disposal income of urban households was RMB15,344 (+9.4%). Major consumer markets are located in Yingchuan（銀川）and Shizuishan（石嘴山）. The combined retail sales of consumer goods of these two cities took up 71% of Ningxia’s total in 2010.

Composition of Per Capita Expenditure of Urban Household (%)

Source: Ningxia Statistical Yearbook 2011

In the first ten months of 2011, sales of of garment and jewellery grew by 30.1% and 60.6% respectively.

Major department stores and shopping centres in Ningxia include Yinchuan Xinhua Department Store（銀川新華百貨）, Gome（國美）, Hualian（華聯）. In recent years, foreign retailers began to operate business in Yinchuan, e.g. Carrefour.

Economic Indicators of Major Cities (2010)

Notes: # For all state-owned enterprises and other forms with annual sales over RMB 5 million
Source: Ningxia Statistical Yearbook 2011