From April 19 to 23, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces and one city successively announced the economic operation in the first quarter. Judging from the data, the Yangtze River Delta, as the "ballast stone" of the mainland's economy, has handed over a pretty good "report card".
In the first quarter, at constant prices, Shanghai's GDP was 1,109.846 billion yuan, up 5 percent year-on-year, Jiangsu Province's GDP was 3,102.04 billion yuan, up 6.2 percent year-on-year, Zhejiang Province's GDP was 2,013.7 billion yuan, up 6.1 percent year-on-year, and Anhui Province's GDP was 1,129.36 billion yuan, up 5.2 percent year-on-year.
A close reading of the "report card" of the three provinces and one city shows that there are many highlights and challenges.
The industry has made an outstanding contribution and demonstrated economic vitality
From the perspective of regional GDP, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which have the largest "tonnage" in the Yangtze River Delta, performed well, with year-on-year growth of 6.2% and 6.1% respectively, showing strong economic vitality.
Among the economic achievements of the two provinces, industry has made a significant contribution. In the first quarter, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size in Jiangsu Province increased by 9.5% year-on-year. In terms of industries, 35 of the 40 industrial categories listed in the list increased their added value year-on-year. In the first quarter, the added value of the equipment manufacturing industry increased by 9.6% year-on-year, of which the computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing industry increased by 11.5%, the electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industry increased by 10.4%, the automobile manufacturing industry increased by 15.3%, and the railway and shipbuilding manufacturing industry increased by 14.1%.
Image source: Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of Statistics website
Wang Xuemin, director of the Industrial Statistics Division of the Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of Statistics, believes that in the first quarter, with the continuous release of the macro combination policy effect, the accelerated recovery of market demand, and the continuous improvement of enterprise expectations, the positive factors conducive to the steady growth of the industrial economy have accumulated, and the continuous improvement of the industrial economy in Jiangsu Province has been consolidated and continued.
Zhejiang has the same situation. In the first quarter, the added value of high-end equipment manufacturing, high-tech industry and artificial intelligence industry increased by 8.9%, 8.0% and 7.3% respectively year-on-year, while the output of new quality products increased by 78.9%, 35.9%, 26.2% and 22.4% respectively.
The Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics disclosed in its interpretation of the city's national economic operation in the first quarter that the profitability of enterprises has gradually improved. From January to February, the total profits of industrial enterprises in Shanghai increased by 2.4 percent over the same period last year, and 2.7 percentage points higher than that of last year. Among them, the profits of chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing enterprises increased by 52.0%, the profits of pharmaceutical manufacturing enterprises increased by 26.1%, and the profits of electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing enterprises increased by 19.5%. The total profits of service enterprises above designated size in the city increased by 84.9% year-on-year.
In the first quarter, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size in Anhui Province increased by 7.6% year-on-year. The added value of the equipment manufacturing industry increased by 13.5 percent, 5.9 percentage points higher than that of the industries above designated size, of which the electronic information manufacturing industry increased by 36.5 percent and the automobile manufacturing industry increased by 12.5 percent. Among the major industrial products, the output of automobiles increased by 35%, of which new energy vehicles increased by 45%, industrial robots increased by 67.8%, and integrated circuits increased by 83%.
Guo Jinsong, chief statistician of the Anhui Provincial Bureau of Statistics, believes that in the first quarter, Anhui's industrial structure is more obvious, the construction of advanced manufacturing clusters is accelerating, the equipment manufacturing industry represented by automobiles and electronic information continues to grow, and the development of new quality productivity is accelerating. In the first quarter, the added value of Anhui's equipment manufacturing industry accounted for 37.8% of the industries above designated size, up from 34.5% in the same period last year.
Investment and consumption have been exerted to maintain rapid growth
As the "leader" of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, for Shanghai, strengthening urban functions is the focus of high-quality development. Shanghai regards the strengthening of the "four major functions" as the quality orientation and integration effect of the construction of the "five centers", accelerates the breakthrough and leap from "whether there is any" to "whether it is strong or not", and takes the strengthening of global resource allocation capacity and the cultivation of world-class enterprises as the foothold to enhance the attractiveness of various high-end elements.
In the first quarter, Shanghai's financial market was actively traded, with a turnover of 866.13 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.6%. Among them, the turnover of securities on the Shanghai Stock Exchange increased by 7.1%, the turnover of the interbank market increased by 17.6%, the turnover of the Shanghai Gold Exchange increased by 51.3%, and the turnover of the China Financial Futures Exchange increased by 37.2%. At the end of March, the balance of domestic and foreign currency deposits of Chinese and foreign financial institutions in the city reached 20.89 trillion yuan, up by 6.7 percent year-on-year, and the balance of loans in local and foreign currencies by Chinese and foreign financial institutions reached 11.66 trillion yuan, up by 7.8 percent.
The recovery of the flow-based economy is also accelerating. In the first quarter, Shanghai's waterway freight turnover increased by 5.5% year-on-year, the port container throughput increased by 8.6%, and the airport passenger throughput increased by 59.5%. The convention and exhibition industry continued to heat up, and from January to February, the operating income of the convention and exhibition and related services industry achieved double-digit growth.
The 2024 Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference was held, and a number of key industrial chain projects were signed. Photo by Zhang Chunhai
In terms of investment, Shanghai has maintained rapid growth. In the first quarter, the city's total investment in fixed assets increased by 9.2% over the same period last year, higher than Jiangsu's 4.9%, Zhejiang's 6.9%, and Anhui's 6.3%, reflecting the strong attraction of "investing in Shanghai" and laying the foundation for the future release of development momentum.
As one of the "troikas" that drive the economy, consumption is also showing vigorous vitality in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui.
In the first quarter, the total retail sales of consumer goods in Jiangsu Province reached 1,240.86 billion yuan, up 6 percent year-on-year, the total retail sales of consumer goods in Zhejiang Province reached 794.2 billion yuan, up 5.9 percent year-on-year, and the total retail sales of consumer goods in Anhui Province reached 600.98 billion yuan, up 4 percent year-on-year. In contrast, the total retail sales of consumer goods in Shanghai in the first quarter were 461.435 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.1%, reflecting that the consumption potential of the "first consumption city in the country" needs to be further tapped.
New kinetic energy is frequently released, and the development of private enterprises is eye-catching
In the "report card" of the first quarter of 2024 in the three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta, some data that are different from people's past impressions are worth paying attention to.
For example, Jiangsu, which is known as the "great strength of the Soviet Union", in addition to maintaining a strong industrial force, the service industry is also showing a good trend. In the first quarter, the added value of the province's service industry was 1,724.88 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.3%, and the growth rate was 0.2 percentage points higher than that of the whole year of 2023, and the added value of the service industry accounted for 55.6% of the regional GDP, contributing 47.2% to economic growth, driving the growth of regional GDP by 2.9 percentage points.
Among them, the more eye-catching is the continuous release of new momentum of the digital economy and the rapid growth of the technology service industry. From January to February, the operating income of Internet and related services, software and information technology services above designated size in Jiangsu Province increased by 20.1% and 12.7% year-on-year respectively, of which Internet information services and information technology consulting services increased by 26.7% and 118.1% year-on-year respectively. The operating income of the province's research and experimental development, science and technology promotion and application services increased by 19.8% and 42.9% year-on-year respectively, of which engineering technology research and experimental development, biotechnology promotion services and new energy technology promotion services increased by 29.5%, 38.7% and 38.9% respectively year-on-year.
In the first quarter, urban infrastructure investment increased by 2.8 percent, real estate development investment increased by 8.1 percent, and industrial investment increased by 11.3 percent. The sales area of newly built commercial buildings was 3,942,800 square meters, a year-on-year increase of 0.7%. The city's local general public budget revenue was 254.754 billion yuan, achieving growth.
In the Yangtze River Delta, another data bright spot is that private enterprises have shown strong vitality.
In Zhejiang, a major province of private enterprises, there were 3.37 million registered private enterprises at the end of March, a year-on-year increase of 7.4%, accounting for 92.2% of the registered enterprises. In the first quarter, the added value of private industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 9.3 percent, 1.1 percentage points higher than that of industries above designated size, and contributed 80.5 percent to the growth of industrial added value above designated size; the import and export of private enterprises increased by 9.0 percent, of which exports increased by 8.2 percent and imports increased by 11.6 percent, accounting for 80.2 percent, 85.4 percent and 66.6 percent of the province's total, respectively, and the proportion increased steadily.
In the first quarter, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size in Jiangsu increased by 9.5% year-on-year. In terms of economic types, state-controlled enterprises increased by 8.6 percent year-on-year, joint-stock enterprises increased by 10.7 percent, and private enterprises grew the fastest, reaching 11.4 percent. In the first quarter, the added value of private industries above designated size increased by 9.2%, 1.6 percentage points faster than that of industries above designated size, which strongly supported the economic growth of the province.
After a good start in the first quarter, how can the economy of the Yangtze River Delta move forward? It may be seen from the upcoming "May Day" holiday: According to the China Railway Shanghai Bureau Group Co., Ltd., within eight days (April 29 to May 6) before and after the "May Day" festival this year, the Yangtze River Delta Railway will send more than 27 million passengers, with an average daily passenger flow of more than 3.4 million passengers, or it will become the highest daily passenger flow of a holiday transportation.
The economy is improving, the crowds are surging, showing strong resilience and full of vitality. Looking forward to the "report card" of the Yangtze River Delta in the second quarter, it will bring more surprises and more highlights.
Source: People's Daily client
Editor: Cai Yangyan
Review: Zhang Xiang