1.2009

Major Economic Indicators

Notes: ¹ In Renminbi real terms ² For all state-owned and other forms of enterprises with annual sales over RMB 5 million
³ Jan-Oct 2008
Sources: Jilin Statistical Yearbook 2008, China's Customs Statistics 10.2008

General Background

Abbreviated as Ji, Jilin lies in the central part of Northeastern China, bordering Russia and North Korea in the east and southeast respectively. With Changchun as its provincial capital, Jilin has a total area of 187,400 sq. km. Total population stood at 27.3 million at the end of 2007.

Jilin has rich natural and mineral resources. Apart from being a major grain production base in China, it ranked the sixth in timber production. Moreover, ginseng, sable and deer antlers, the "Three Northeastern Treasures", renowned both in China and overseas, are specialties of Jilin Province. The yields of ginseng and deer antlers are among the top in China. In addition, Jilin has abundant traditional medicine resources, with approximately 27,000 kinds of wild plants and 9,000 kinds of medicinal herbs.

For mineral resources, there are 165 kinds of minerals discovered. Jilin has large reserves of oil, gas, coal, iron mine, nickel, molybdenum, talc, graphite, gypsum, cement rock, gold and silver, and its reserve of oil shale is the largest in the country.

In the past, debt laden state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were prevalent in Jilin. In recent years, through all kinds of reform such as outright sales, introducing strategic investors, financial restructuring and lifting their social services (housing, education, medicare, etc.) burdens, the SOEs have become more efficient.

Industries

Jilin province is a key agricultural province of China. Located at one of the three world-famous "black land belts", the central Songliao plain is "the global golden corn belt", and is an important national processing and production base of cereals and meat. Compared with many other provinces, animal husbandry plays a relatively more important role in Jilin, accounting for 48% of the total output value in the primary sector.

Composition of GDP (%)

Source: Jilin Statistical Yearbook 2008

As an old industrial base, industrial structure is heavily skewed towards heavy industry, accounting for nearly 76.3% of the total industrial value-added in 2007.

The province is strong in machinery, petrochemicals, food, pharmaceuticals, metallurgy and forest industries. Automobiles and petrochemicals are being identified as the pillar industries of the province, represented by the Changchun First Automobile Manufacturing Factory or FAW, Jilin Oil Field and the Hong Kong-listed Jilin Chemical Industry Corporation (JCIC).

Value-added Share of Leading Industry Groups (2007)

Notes: # For all state-owned enterprises and other forms with annual sales over RMB 5 million
Source: Jilin Statistical Yearbook 2008

Thanks to its strong agricultural sector with unique produce such as herbs from Changbai Mountain, Jilin has advantages in processing of food and medicine manufacturing, contributing about 14% to the province's total industrial value-added in 2007. For the tertiary industry, wholesale & retail trade, transport & storage & post and education occupied the top three in terms of added value.

Tourism

Jilin owns a lot of well-known natural and human landscape: the biggest crater lake of China --- the Sky Pond of the Changbai Mountain, one of the "four natural wonders in China" --- the Jilin rime, the "east pyramid" --- the General Grave in Ji'an Gaogouli etc.

In 2007, Jilin received 37 million (+16%) domestic tourists and 544 thousand (+21.2%) overseas tourists, bringing revenues of RMB33.7 billion (+27.5%) and US$179.3 million (+25.9%) respectively. The number of tourists from Hong Kong and Macao increased by 24.7% to 52 thousand.

Foreign Trade

Major exports included garment and clothing, corn and grist, steel, motor vehicles, veneer etc. Major export markets were Japan, Russia, the US, South Korea and North Korea.

Major imports included autoparts, instruments for checking and measuring, ore in sand form, gas engine parts with piston etc. Germany was the dominant import source of Jilin, accounting for 44% of the province's total imports in 2007. Other major import sources were Japan, the US, Hungary, North Korea and South Korea.

Jilin has organised different trade fairs in recent years to boost trade. There are important fairs on automobile and autoparts (China Changchun Int'l Automobile Fair), optical goods (China International Optoelectronic Expo), agricultural products and the China Jilin-Northeast Asia Investment and Trade Expo etc.

Foreign Investment

In 2006, contracted foreign direct investment grew by 79% to US$1,686 million, and the utilized FDI amounted to US$760 million (+15%).

Foreign investments were mainly involved in manufacturing of transportation equipment, food processing, computer application and software, producing and supply of gas, as well as pharmaceutical products. Germany is Jilin's largest foreign investor in 2006, followed by the US, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan.

In the coming years, foreign investments are encouraged in the sectors of auto parts, pharmaceuticals, agricultural products, optical and electronics, infrastructure and public utilities.

Changchun and Jilin City are the two leading cities in attracting foreign investment. Well-known international enterprises invested Jilin include Pepsi-Cola, Ford and Chrysler from the US, Pilkington from the UK, Siemens and Volkswagen AG from Germany, and Nissan from Japan.

Consumer Market

In 2007, annual per capita disposal income of urban households reached RMB11,285 (+15.5%). Major consumer centres are located in Changchun and Jilin City. In terms of retail sales, communications equipment, building and decorating materials, furniture and automobile grew markedly by 16.7%, 88.7%, 41.4% and 46.2% respectively in 2007, indicating an upgrade in the consumption structure.

Composition of Per Capita Expenditure of Urban Household (%)

Source: Jilin Statistical Yearbook 1997, 2008

Foreign retailers, such as Carrefour and Wal-Mart, have expanded into the province. Major local department stores and shopping centres in Jilin include Changchun Department Store Co. Ltd., Jilin Dongfang Shopping Arcade Co. Ltd., Zhuozhan etc.

Economic Indicators of Major Cities (2007)

*For all state-owned and non-state-owned enterprises with annual sales over RMB 5 million
Source: Jilin Statistical Yearbook 2008