21.8.2001

 

JIANGXI PROVINCE（江西省）

 

Economic Indicators

	1999		2000
Economic Indicators	Value	Growth	Value	Growth
		(%, y-o-y)		(%, y-o-y)
Area (sq km)	166,900	--	166,900	--
Population (mn)	42.3	1.0	41.9^	-2.1
Gross Domestic Product (RMB bn)	196.3	6.4*	200.0	8.0*
Per Capita GDP (RMB)	4,673	5.3	N/A	N/A
Disposable Income Per Capita
- urban (RMB)	4,720.6	11.0	5,103.6	8.1
- rural (RMB)	2,129.5	4.0	2,135.3	0.2
Fixed-assets Investment (RMB bn)	28.7	10.7	32.2	12.2
Added Value Output
- primary industry (RMB bn)	47.5	5.2	48.5	2.1
- secondary industry (RMB bn)	76.1	2.4	69.5	-8.6
- tertiary industry (RMB bn)	73.2	11.6	82.0	12.0
Retail Sales (RMB bn)	65.1	7.5	70.5	8.3
Inflation (Consumer Price Index, %)	-3.2		0.3
Exports (US$ bn)	0.9	-17.7	1.2	33.3
- by FIEs (US$ bn)	0.1	11.1	0.2	100
Imports (US$ bn)	0.6	65.7	0.9	48.3
- by FIEs (US$ bn)	0.2	111.1	0.2	0.0
Foreign Direct Investment
- number of projects	245	-26.6	272	11.0
- contracted amount (US$ bn)	0.3	-21.0	0.3	-20.3
- utilized amount (US$ bn)	0.3	-31.0	0.2	-30.2

Notes:   * In Renminbi real terms                    

  ^ Latest population census, 1999 figure was estimate based on previous survey.

Sources:  Jiangxi Statistical Yearbook and State Statistical Bureau

 

General Background

 

Jiangxi - abbreviated as Gan（贛）- lies on the southern bank in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River bordering Fujian and Zhejiang.  The Poyang Lake（鄱陽湖）, lying in the northern part of the province, is the largest freshwater lake in China .

 

Nanchang（南昌）- the provincial capital, Jiujiang（九江）and Jingdezhen（景德鎮）are inland open cities authorized by the State Council, enjoying similar preferential investment policies as coastal open cities.

 

The fertile Poyang Lake Plain（鄱陽湖平原）is known as the "Land of Fish and Rice"（魚米之鄉）. It produces lot of rice, cotton, tea, sugarcane, oil-bearing seeds, beans, white lotus, melon seeds, ducks and chicken.  Jiangxi is a major source of timber and bamboo products in China. 

 

The province is rich in metal deposits including copper, uranium, plutonium, tungsten, gold, silver, lead and zinc, all of which rank the first in China. It also has ample geothermal energy resources and mineral water.

 

Infrastructure

Water Transport － Jiujiang is the only port city in the province.  With its advantageous geographical location situating on the intersection point of the Yangtze River and the Beijing-Kowloon Railway（京九鐵路）, it has been a major distribution centre for Jiangxi, Anhui, Hubei and Hunan provinces.  Jiujiang is also a major inland water-transportation centre at the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.  The Jiujiang Port, now opens to foreign trade, has a cargo-handling capacity of more than three million tons a year.  It can accommodate 5,000-ton freighters sailing directly to Hong Kong, Japan and other Southeast Asian countries.

 

Railways － The province has a well-developed railway network.  Major trunk railways include Jingjiu line（京九線: Beijing-Kowloon 北京－香港九龍）, Zhegan line（浙贛線: Hangzhou-Nanchang 杭州－南昌）, Yingxia line（鷹廈線: Yingtan-Xiamen 鷹潭－廈門）, Ninggan line（寧贛線: Nanjing-Nanchang 南京－南昌）, Xiangjiu line（向九線: Xiangtang-Jiujiang 南昌向塘－九江）, Xiangji line（向吉線: Xiangtang-Ji'an 南昌向塘－吉安）and Wujiu line（武九線: Wuhan-Jiujiang 武漢－九江）.

In coming years, a new national trunk railway running along the Yangtze River will be constructed.  The new railway will cross various provinces and municipalities including Sichuan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Chongqing and Shanghai and greatly enhance economic development of the Yangtze River Valley. Other railways that’s under construction are: Gan-Long Line（贛州－龍岩線）, Tong-Jiu Line（銅陵－九江線）.

 

Highways － Jiangxi has established a comprehensive highway network including the Nanchang Bridge and the Nanchang-Jiaotan section of the Nanchang-Jinjiang motorway, Changzhang Expressway（昌樟高速公路）between Nanchang and Zhangzhou（樟州）, the Jiujiang-Jingdezhen Expressway（九景高速公路）and the Ganyue Expressway（贛粵高速公路）linking Nanchang, Ji'an（吉安）and Ganzhou（贛州）with Guangdong province.

 

In the Tenth Five-Year Plan, Jiangxi will construct 1,000 kilometers of new expressways and improve the conditions of over 10,000 existing expressways. The total amount of investment is expected to be over RMB 50 billion.

 

Air Transport － There are five airports locating in Nanchang, Jiujiang, Jingdezhen, Ji'an and Ganzhou.  Chartered flight from Nanchang to Hong Kong is available.

Telecommunications － All the places above the county level are equipped with program-controlled telephones.  By end 2001, mobile phone users in the province is expected to be over 2 million, and internet users will reach 20,000.

Electricity － Five large hydroelectric power stations and ten thermal power plants make the province almost self-sufficient in electricity.

 

Industries

 

Jiangxi has benefited greatly from the relocation of military industry from the coastal regions to inland provinces in the 1960s-70s. Many cities have now become important industrial production bases of China. In 2000, Jiangxi’s total industrial output was RMB 92.5 billion.

 

Nanchang is a major heavy industry base of iron & steel, machinery, electronics, metallurgy, automobiles, textiles and petrochemicals. The Jiangling Automobile Co. Ltd.（江鈴集團）- a joint venture between Isuzu and Nanchang Jiangling Automobile Factory - has become one of the largest light truck manufacturers in China.

 

Jingdezhen（景德鎮）is a world famous city for chinaware and porcelain products.  In recent years, the city has been developed as an important comprehensive industrial base.  It covers industries of automobile, household appliances, chemicals, coals, food processing, forestry, building materials and textiles.

 

The Dayu Uranium Mill（大余鎢礦）is famous in the world, while the Dexing Copper Mill（德興銅礦）is one of the largest copper mines in Asia and nonferrous production bases in China. The coal industry in Pingxiang, Gaoan（高安）, Fengcheng（豐城）and Leping（樂平）is also significant in China.

 

In coming years, Jiangxi will strive to develop the areas along the Beijing-Kowloon Railway.  Several industrial bases will be established in the "Golden Triangle Industrial Bases" of Nanchang, Jiujiang and Jingdezhen.  Electronics, automotive, machinery, petro-chemicals, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, textiles and building materials were selected as the pillar industries for the next 15 years.

 

Tourism

 

Jiangxi has a very rich historical and cultural heritages, all of which become famous tourist attractions nowadays. Famous scenic spots include: Bailudong Academy（白鹿洞書院）, Mt. Dragon and Tiger（龍虎山）in Jiangxi, Tengwang Pavilion（滕王閣）, Capital of Porcelain-Jingdezhen（景德镇）,  Lushan（廬山）, Jinggang Mountains（井崗山）and Poyang Lake（鄱陽湖）.  In 2000, Jiangxi received 163,100 tourists (+17.7%) and generated revenue of US$62 million (+24%).

 

Consumer Market

 

Retail sales of consumer goods in Jiangxi increased by 8.3% to Rmb70.5 billion in 2000.  Major consumer markets are located in Nanchang, Jiujiang, Pingxiang（萍鄉）and Jingdezhen.

 

Major department stores and shopping centres in Jiangxi include Nanchang Department Store Shareholdings Co（南昌百貨大樓股份有限公司）, Nanchang Shopping Centre（南昌購物中心）, Jiujiang Department Store（九江百貨大樓）and Jingdezhen Department Store（景德鎮百貨大樓）, etc.

 

Foreign Trade

Jiangxi's exports increased by 33.3% to US$1.2 billion in 2000.  Major export goods included garment, porcelain, synthetic blended fabrics, tungsten ores, shoes, medicine, electrical appliances, rice, ammonium, fireworks and canned foods.  Major export destinations were Hong Kong, the US, Japan, Germany and Republic of Korea.

 

Imports grew by 48.3% to US$860 million in 2000.  Major import commodities included chemicals, fertilizer, raw materials, synthetic fibre and machinery.  Major import sources were Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US.

 

Hong Kong is the second largest trading partner of Jiangxi.  In 1999, Jiangxi exported US$156 million worth of goods to Hong Kong. Jiangxi also imported US$25 million from Hong Kong.

 

Foreign Investment

 

In 2000, Jiangxi approved 272 foreign-invested projects (+11.0%) with contracted foreign capital of US$264.8 million (-21%).  Actually utilised foreign fund dropped by 29.1% to US$227 million in the year.

 

By end-1999, the province had obtained a cumulative amount of foreign investment of more than US$4.42 billion from 58 countries and regions including the US, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.  Nearly 5,000 foreign-funded enterprises were approved in transportation, energy, agriculture, electronics, automobiles, household appliances, food and pharmaceutical sectors.

 

Direct investment from Hong Kong has been diversified from hotels and processing & assembling industries in the early 1980s to infrastructure, manufacturing and tertiary industries in the 1990s.  Hong Kong-invested projects such as the Qingshanhu Hotel（青山湖賓館）, Jingdezhen Hotel（景德鎮賓館）, Lushan Hotel（盧山賓館）, Lushan Guest House（盧山飯店）, the No.105 State Highway in Ganzhou and the Longtan（龍潭）Hydropower Electricity Station. 

 

In order to attract more Taiwanese investment, the government has established a Taiwanese investment zone in Gongqing City（共青市）, aiming at developing electronics, machinery, garments, export-oriented agriculture, hi-tech and pollution-free industries.  In addition, the Nanchang-Jiujiang Industrial Corridor（昌九工業走廊）, situated along the Nanchang-Jiujiang Expressway, is a popular spot for foreign investment.

 

To boost the development of the central and western regions in China, the State Council has granted further tax incentives to foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in China.  Under the existing policy, FIEs are entitled to a three-year tax reduction and exemption.  The new policy allows that foreign-invested enterprises in the central and western regions to enjoy another three years of preferential tax rate when the current preferential tax period expires.  The tax rate can be further reduced to 10% if an enterprise is proved to export more than 70% of its annual output in terms of value.

 

Economic Indicators of Major Cites (1999)

	Population	GDP	Industrial Output	Retail Sales	Utilized FDI
Cities	('000)	(RMB bn)	(RMB bn)	(RMB bn)	(US$ mn)
Nanchang  南昌	4,227  (+1.5%)	40.0  (+5.3%)	25.3    (-5.2%)	13.1  (+9.2%)	126.7  (-7.0%)
Jiujiang      九江	4,548  (+1.5%)	19.2  (+12.9%)	11.6    (-4.1%)	5.9    (+7.3%)	70.0    (-47.1%)
Jingdezhen景德鎮	1,499  (+1.5%)	8.6    (+6.2%)	7.0      (-20.5%)	2.6    (+8.3%)	10.0    (-23.7%)
Pingxiang   萍鄉	1,788  (+1.2%)	9.2    (+9.5%)	3.5      (-14.6%)	3.2    (+10.3%)	8.4      (-28.8%)
Xinyu        新余	1,082  (+1.3%)	6.0    (+5.3%)	5.5      (+0.9%)	2.4    (+9.1%)	16.2    (+0.6%)
Yingtan      鷹潭	1,053  (+1.4%)	4.0    (+6.2%)	6.1   (+17.0%)	1.8    (+12.5%)	3.6      (-49.2%)

Note: Figures in  (   ) represent year-on-year growth          Source:      Jiangxi Statistical Yearbook

 

Major Economic & Technological Development Zones (ETDZs)

 

1.        Nanchang New- and Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone（南昌高新技術產業開發區）, covering an area of 19.6 sq km, was established in October 1992 with the approval of the State Council. Backed by strong R & D capacity and potentials of Jiangxi’s major scientific research institutes or universities, the zone has strong potentials in developing new- and hi-tech projects. Information technology, biological engineering and fine chemistry have become the backbone industries in the zone.

 

2.        Nanchang Economic Development Zone（南昌經濟技術開發區）has been upgraded into a state-level economic zone recently.  The zone covers 9.8 sq km and has comprehensive infrastructure facilities.  Currently, the zone has 120 projects from which 70 are foreign-invested.  Foreign investments mainly came from the US, Japan, France, the UK and Germany.

 

3.        Nanchang-Jiujiang Industrial Corridor（昌九工業走廊）, covering 400 sq.km.  It locates along the Jingjiu Railway involving Nanchang, Jiujiang and five counties.  The area is one of the most important components of economic development and opening-up along the Yangtze River.  So far, there are 8 provincial level development zones with a total development area of 35.58 sq.km. They are Jiujiang Open and Development Zone（九江開放開發區）, Gongqing Open and Development Zone（共青開放開發區）, Xinghuo Hi-Tech Industry Development Zone（星火高新技術産業開發區）, Yunshan Economic & Technological Development Zone（雲山經濟技術開發區）, Sanghai Economic & Technological Development Zone（桑海經濟技術開發區）, Changbei Open and Development Zone（昌北開放開發區）, Jinniu Open and Development Zone（金牛開放開發區）and Yinsanjiao Open and Development Zone（銀三角開放開發區）.

 

Other economic development zones are:

 

Ji’an Hedong Economic Development Zone（吉安河東經濟開發區）, Ganzhou Huangjinling Economic Development Zone（贛州市黃金嶺經濟開發區）,  Fuzhou Jinchao Development Zone （撫州金巢開發區）, Jiangxi Red Star Economic Development Zone（江西紅星經濟開發區）, Damaoshan Economic Development Zone（大茅山經濟開發區）, Anyuan Economic Development Zone（安源經濟開發區）,  Jingdezhen Hi-Tech Development Zone（景德鎮高新技術開發區）, Lushan Open and Development Zone（廬山開放開發區仰天坪旅遊度假區）, Sanqingshan Tourism Economic Development Zone（三清山旅遊經濟開發區）, Nanchang Changling Development Zone （南昌長淩開發區）.