3.9.2001

 

SHANXI PROVINCE（山西省）

 

Economic Indicators

	1999		2000
Economic Indicators	Value	Growth	Value	Growth
		(%,y-o-y)		(%,y-o-y)
Area (sq km)	156,300	--	156,300	--
Population (mn)	32.0	1.0	33.0 ^	2.9
Gross Domestic Product (RMB bn)	150.7	1.5 *	164.0	7.7 *
Per Capita GDP (RMB)	5,117	0.5	N/A	N/A
Disposable Income Per Capita
- urban (RMB)	4,342.6	5.9	4,724.1	8.8
- rural (RMB)	1,772.6	-4.6	1,905.6	7.5
Fixed-assets Investment (RMB bn)	41.3	7.6	45.7	10.7
Added Value Output
- primary industry (RMB bn)	17.6	-15.0	16.8	-4.5
- secondary industry (RMB bn)	87.9	1.7	83.6	-4.9
- tertiary industry (RMB bn)	57.7	7.7	63.6	10.2
Retail Sales (RMB bn)	58.7	7.3	62.9	7.2
Inflation (Consumer Price Index, %)	-3.2		3.9
Exports (US$ bn)	1.5	-12.3	2.1	40
- by FIEs (US$ bn)	0.08	-20.0	0.15	87.5
Imports (US$ bn)	0.8	95.1	0.7	-12.5
- by FIEs (US$ bn)	0.3	312.5	0.27	-10
Foreign Direct Investment
- number of projects	79	-21.8	71	-10.1
- contracted amount (US$ bn)	0.2	-42.7	0.3	12.0
- utilized amount (US$ bn)	0.4	60.0	0.2	-74.1

Notes: * In Renminbi real terms                       

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

Sources : Shanxi Statistical Yearbook and State Statistical Bureau

 

General Background

 

Shanxi - abbreviated as Jin（晉）-  is situated at the east of the Yellow River and west of the Taihang Mountains（太行山）.  It is a landlocked province bordering Hebei, Henan, Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi.

 

Shanxi's capital is Taiyuan（太原）which enjoys the same preferential economic policies as coastal open cities.  Other major cities include Datong（大同）, Yangquan（陽泉）, Changzhi（長治）, Jincheng（晉城）and Shuozhou（朔州）.

Shanxi has the reputation of the "Coal Warehouse of China"（中國煤倉）.  Its coal fields are among the largest in China, covering a total area of 64,800 sq km.  Major coal fields are located near Taiyuan and Datong.  Taiyuan has developed a coal export system and become a major coal export base for the country.  In 1999, the province's output of coal ranked the first in China reaching 248.9 million tons and accounted for nearly one-fourth of the country's total. 

 

Infrastructure

Railways －Shanxi's transportation relies highly on railways. The railway network connects Shijiazhuang（石家庄）and Taiyuan（太原）; Beijing and Yuanping（原平）; Beijing and Baotou（包頭）; Datong（大同）and Menyuan（門原）; Taiyuan and Jiaozuo（焦作）.  The province has completed seven double-track electric railways extending to coastal ports such as Qinghuandao, Qingdao, Yantai and Lianyungang.

 

Besides, the Shuozhou-Huanghua Railway（朔州－黃驊）has just opened to traffic.  The Shuozhou-Huanghua Railway, linking Shenchi county in Shanxi with Huanghua port in Hebei. It will be the second largest railway for coal transportation from west to east in China.

 

Highways － With Taiyuan as the hub, the highways in Shanxi form a road network linking all the counties in the province.  Major highway, Dayun（大運公路: Datong-Yuncheng 大同－運城）, connects the cities in south and north of the province. The Taiyuan-Jiuguan Express­way（太原－舊關高速公路）, which joins the Beijing-Shijiazhuang expressway（北京－石家庄高速公路）and connects Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu expressway（京津唐高速公路）and Beijing-Shenzhen expressway（京深高速公路）, leads to Beijing and the region of Bohai Sea rim directly.

 

In the Tenth Five Year Plan, Shanxi is going to invest more to improve its highway transportation system. The province is aiming to invest at least RMB 10 billion on highway construction by end-2001.

 

Air Transport － Taiyuan Airport provides civil air service which connects Shanxi with more than 28 major domestic cities including Beijing, Xian, Chengdu and Chongq­ing.  International routes linking Shanxi include Hong Kong, Singapore, Russia and Japan.

 

A new airport will be built in Datong City.  Datong has many tourist attractions including the world-famous Yungang Grottoes.  The airport will be able to accommodate Boeing-737s and expected to be completed by end-2001.

Telecommunications － At present, there were over 1 million subscribers for mobile phone services .

There are also 210,000 internet users.

Electricity － Shanxi's power industry boasts an installed capacity of 9.2 million kWh and annual output of 52.6 billion kWh.  About 25% of the electricity generated is transmitting to Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.

 

Currently, a new thermal power plant, the Wangqu power plant（王曲電廠）, is under construction. This power plant is going to be the biggest thermal power plant in Asia and its installed capacity will be over 2.4 million kWh.

 

Gas Supply － As part of the Great Western Development Strategy, a major gas pipeline with total length of 4,200 kilometers will be built.  The pipeline will start from the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang and ends at Shanghai, running through the provinces Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.  It aims to deliver gas from the country's western area which were major gas production bases to central parts as well as Yangtze River Delta areas and the eastern regions. 

 

Industries

 

Development of heavy industries is strong in Shanxi, particularly for energy and chemicals industries.  In 2000, industrial output in Shanxi totalled Rmb122.5 billion and heavy industries accounted for more than 80% of the total.  Industries are mainly located at Taiyuan, Datong and Changzhi.

 

Taiyuan Iron and Steel Works（太原鋼鐵公司）is the largest base for special steel in the country with an annual output capacity of over 2.7 million tons of steel.  Aluminium industry is becoming one of the pillar industries of Shanxi. 

 

Shanxi also concentrate on machinery and electronic industries.  A few of large- and medium-sized enterprises such as the Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group Company（太原重型機器集團公司）, Taiyuan Mining Machinery plant（太原礦山機械廠）and Yuci hydraulic component Plant（榆次液壓件廠）are famous in the country.

 

Besides, the province also develop a wide range of industries including coke, mining equipment, machine tools, automobiles, metallurgy, chemical fertilizer, printing, paper-making, food and textile.

 

Tourism

 

There are 7 major tourism centres in Shanxi including Taiyuan, Datong, Wutai Mountain（五台山）, Linfen（臨汾）, Yuncheng（運城）, Shangdang and Yangquan.  Hu Kou Water Fall（壺口瀑布）of Yellow River, Datong Yungang grottoes（大同雲崗石窟）, holy land of Buddism - Wutai Mountain and the temple for the Chinese War of God-Guandi Temple（關帝廟）, Xuankong Temple（懸空寺）, Yingxian Wooden Pagoda（應縣木塔）, the shrine of Jin（晉祠）, are some of the famous scenic spots. 

 

In 2000, the province attracted 165,300 tourists (+20.0%) and generated revenue of US$50 million (+16.3%).  Besides, Shanxi will co-operate with other 9 provinces and autonomous regions in establishing a tourism information network and arranging a tourism fair bi-yearly.  Concerned parties include Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan and Shandong provinces, as well as Inner Mongolia and Ningxia Hui autonomous regions. 

 

Consumer Market

 

Retail sales of consumer goods in Shanxi rose by 7.2% to Rmb62.9 billion in 2000.  Major consumer markets are located in Taiyuan, Datong and Changzhi. 

 

Major department stores and commercial centres in Shanxi include Taiyuan Tianlong Group（太原天龍集團股份有限公司）, Taiyuan Wuyi Department Store（太原市五一百貨大樓有限公司）, Taiyuan Department Store（太原百貨批發公司）, Datong Department Store（大同百貨批發公司）, Changzi Department Store（長治百貨總公司）and Jincheng Department Store（晉城市百貨紡織品公司）.

 

Foreign Trade

 

Shanxi's exports increased by 40% to US$2.1 billion in 2000.   Major export goods were coke and coal, accounting for 60% of the province's total.  Other export products included textiles, metals, minerals, chemical, etc.  Major export markets were the US, Japan, Republic of Korea, and Germany. 

 

Imports dropped by 12.5% to US$700 million in 2000.  Major import goods included iron grind, machinery, electric equipment, chemicals, etc.  Major import sources were the US, Hong Kong, Australia, Germany and Japan.

 

Hong Kong was not among the top ten biggest trading partners with Shanxi.  In 1999, the total amount of trade between the two was US$24 million. Shanxi exported US$ 20 million worth of goods to and imported 4 million from Hong Kong.

 

Foreign Investment

 

In 2000, Shanxi approved 71 foreign-invested projects (-10.1%) with contracted foreign investment of US$262 million (+12.0%).  The province actually used more than US$225 million (-42.4%) of foreign capital in the year.  

 

Hong Kong was the fourth biggest investor in the province. In 1999, Hong Kong investors signed 20 contracts with Shanxi with contractual amount of US$ 347 million. Foreign investments mainly engaged in infrastructure projects, light industrial products, food, metal products, textiles and garments, machinery and electronics.  Other major sources of foreign investment came from Taiwan, the Virgin Islands and the US.

 

In coming years, foreign investment are encouraged in the fields of telecommunication, transportation, electricity, energy raw materials, infrastructure construction including two power plants, the Yangcheng, and the Yangquan, and the Wanjiazhai water control project.

 

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 foreign-invested enterprises in the central and western regions to enjoy another three years of preferential tax rate when the current preferential term 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 Cities (1999)

	Population	GDP	Industrial Output	Retail Sales
Cities	('000)	(Rmb bn)	(Rmb bn)	(Rmb bn)
Taiyuan     太原	2,994  (+1.2%)	33.3  (+3.1%)	27.4  (+1.9%)	13.6  (+7.9%)
Datong      大同	2,756  (+1.2%)	15.7  (-8.2%)	11.3  (-10.3%)	7.3    (+7.4%)
Changzhi   長治	3,099  (+0.7%)	15.4  (+1.3%)	9.6    (-0.0%)	3.7    (+5.7%)
Jincheng    晉城	2,100  (+0.8%)	13.2  (-4.3%)	6.6    (+1.5%)	4.1    (+5.1%)
Yangquan   陽泉	1,235  (+0.5%)	9.1    (-3.2%)	7.2    (-4.0%)	3.2    (+6.7%)
Shuozhou   朔州	1,349  (+1.0%)	7.7    (-7.2%)	5.8    (-5.0%)	3.1    (+10.7%)

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

Major Economic & Technological Development Zones (ETDZs)

 

Taiyuan Hi- & New- Technology Industrial Development Zone（太原高新技術產業開發區）was approved by the State Council in 1992 and the only state-level development zone in Shanxi. 

 

Foreign investments are encouraged in the sectors of electronics and information technology, machine and electricity integrated technology, biological engineering technology, new material technology, the technology for radiation, new energy resources and highly efficient energy-saving and environment protection, medical science and basic material science, and other new techniques and technology.

 

Yuncheng Economic and Development Zone（運城經濟技術開發區）was approved by the State Council in 1992 with an initial investment of RMB 670 million. Currently, there is one industrial zone and14 small trading zones, with over 4,000 enterprises and over 24,000 workers. In 2000, the zone’s GDP was RMB 3.1 billion.

 

Other development zones in Shanxi include :

 

l           Datong Economic & Technology Development Zone（大同經濟技術開發區）

l           Yuci Economic & Technology Development Zone（榆次經濟技術開發區）

l           Changzhi Hi- & New- Technology Industrial Development Zone（治高新技術產業開發區）

l           Fenglingdu Economic & Technology Development Zone（風陵渡經濟技術開發區）

l           Yangquan Economic & Technology Development Zone（陽泉經濟技術開發區）

l           Jincheng Economic and Technology Development Zone（晉城經濟技術開發區）

l           Shuozhou Economic and Technology Development Zone（朔州經濟技術開發區）

l           Jinzhou Economic and Development Zone（忻州經濟技術開發區）

l           Huaxin Economic and Development Zone（華信經濟技術開發區）

l           Linfen Economic and Development Zone（臨汾經濟技術開發區）