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 RMB5 million
           ³ Jan-Aug of 2011
Sources: Shanxi Statistical Yearbook 2011, China’s Customs Statistics 12.2010, 9.2011

General Background

Shanxi - abbreviated as Jin（晉）- has a total area of 156,600 square kilometers. Total population stood at 35.7 million by the end of 2010.

Historically, Shanxi was well known for the “Jin Merchants” who were forerunners in foreign trade and national financial services. Shanxi is now the most important energy source base in China with abundant reserves of coal（煤）, magnesium（鎂）, bauxite（鐵鋁氧石）and fireclay（粘土）.

In recent years, Shanxi has aimed to improve the traditional industries of coal, coke, metallurgy and electrical power and develop new pillar industries such as coal chemical, equipment manufacturing, material and tourism.

Industries

In 2010, more than half of the province’s GDP was attributed to industry. This was much higher than the 40.6% recorded in 2000. The share of the services sector in GDP dropped slightly to 37.1% compared to 43.8% in 2000.

Composition of GDP (%)

Source: Shanxi Statistical Yearbook 2011.

Shanxi’s heavy industry dominated the industry sector, accounting for 94.6% of the province’s total industrial value-added in 2010.

Value Added Share of Leading Industry Groups (2010)

Source: Shanxi Statistical Yearbook 2011

Tourism

Shanxi is a city with a long history and profound cultural connotation, for example, Datong Yungang Grottoes (雲岡石窟) and Ancient City of Pingyao (平遙古城) have been listed in the “World Culture Heritage Directory”. In 2010, Shanxi received 1.3 million overseas tourists, bringing foreign exchange revenue of US$465 million (+22.9%). It also attracted 125 million domestic tourists, generating revenue of RMB105 billion (+21.5%).

Foreign Trade

The top three largest overseas markets were the South Korea, US, Japan and India. Major exports included minerals, base metals and related products, accounting for 62.7% of total exports in 2010.

Australia is the leading source of imports, followed by Brazil, Germany and India. Major imports included minerals, base metals and related products, accounting for 72.9% of total imports in 2010.

In 2010, Hong Kong was one of Shanxi’s major trading partners. Shanxi exported US$233.5 million to Hong Kong and imported US$4.3 million from Hong Kong.

Foreign Investment

Of the total contracted FDI in Shanxi in 2010, the manufacturing sector accounted for 21.8% of the total. Within the manufacturing sector, telecommunication equipment, computer & other electronic products accounted for 44.6%. Production and supply of electricity, gas and water is another major sector for foreign investment.

In 2010, the major sources of overseas investment were Hong Kong and Britain Virgin Islands, from which the utilized FDI accounted for 64.3% and11.9% respectively of total utilized FDI.

Consumer Market

In terms of per capita disposable income of urban residents, Shanxi reached RMB15,648 in 2010 up by 11.8% from 2010. Taiyuan city is the leading consumer market accounting for 25.2% of Shanxi’s retail sales, followed by Datong which accounted for 9.4% of the province’s retail sales.

Composition of Per Capita Expenditure of Urban Household (%)

Source: Shanxi Statistical Yearbook 2006, 2011

In recent years, more and more foreign retail enterprises emerged in Taiyuan（太原）, e.g. Sams（山姆士）and Wal-mart（沃爾瑪）from the US, Carrefour（家樂福）from France, Metro（麥德龍） from Germany. Domestic retail chain enterprises which run well in Taiyuan include Hualian (華聯), Meet All（美特好）, etc. Domestic retail chains grew rapidly in quantity in recent years due to the stimulation from foreign competitors.

Economic Indicators of Major Cities (2010)

Source: Shanxi Statistical Yearbook 2011