| Market Profiles on Chinese Cities and Provinces |
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1.2008 Yangtze River DeltaGeneral Background The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) metropolitan region refers to 16 cities in Shanghai, southern Jiangsu, eastern and northern Zhejiang, including Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Nantong, Taizhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing, Zhoushan and Taizhou, of which Taizhou was being included as part of the YRD metropolitan region starting from August 2003.
Although the YRD only covers an area of 109,961 sq.km which is about 1% of China's total land area, its GDP reached RMB3,950 billion in 2006, or 19% of the whole China economy. The YRD is an important economic powerhouse of the Chinese mainland, with Shanghai being China's financial and logistics center, and Zhejiang and Jiangsu an increasingly important manufacturing base. The YRD's total population stood at 92.2 million at the end of 2006, accounting for 7% of China's total. Economic Performance and Policy The YRD's economic performance in 2006:
Major Economic Indicators (2006)
Note: a) GDP per capita of the YRD is calculated based on the GDP and population figures in this table.
Industries The YRD’s manufacturing industries are developing rapidly, partly as a result of the influx of foreign investment. Cities that have relatively large industrial production include Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Nanjing. The YRD’s total industrial output amounted to RMB7,915 billion in 2006, accounting for about 25% of China's total. While the Pearl River Delta excels in the assembly of light consumer goods, the YRD is more focused on heavy industries such as machinery, chemicals and other upstream industries, i.e. the production of raw materials, intermediate goods and capital goods including electronic parts, textile and chemical fibre etc. For example, in terms of volume, Shanghai and Jiangsu together accounted for more than 70% of the national total output of micro-computers; Jiangsu and Zhejiang together accounted for 71% of China's total output of chemical fiber in 2006. Within the YRD region, while Jiangsu and Zhejiang are major producers of garment, textile, chemical fiber, and machinery, Shanghai also produces a relatively large share of chemicals, machinery and motor vehicles. Shanghai alone produced 17% of China's total output of cars in 2006. Major industries of the YRD and their shares in China's industrial output (2006)
Source: Statistical Yearbooks of China, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang 2007 The YRD's private sector is the most developed in China. In 2006, there were 507 thousand, 599 thousand and 406 thousand private enterprises respectively in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, totally accounting for 30% of the national total. Many indigenous private enterprises in the YRD have developed strong brand names in their specialised areas and become market leaders in China. These include Youngor, Shanshan, and Romon. Foreign Trade The YRD is an important export base in China. From 2001 to 2006, YRD's exports rose by an average of 41% per annum to US$356 billion in 2006, which accounted for 37% of China's total exports. Major export items included machinery, transportation equipment, electrical equipment and parts, garments, textile and raw materials. Major export markets included US, EU, Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea. From 2001 to 2006, YRD's imports grew by an average of 30% per annum to US$270 billion in 2006. As a manufacturing base, major imports of the YRD included raw materials, chemical products, electrical equipment, and parts and components. Major import sources included EU, Japan, US, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong. Foreign Investment FDI inflow amounted to US$31.7 billion in 2006, over 46% of China's total. Hong Kong is the leading source of FDI in the YRD. Other major investors include Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, US and South Korea. There are over 80,000 foreign-invested companies in Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Major foreign companies in the YRD include General Motors, Shell, Matsushita, Exxon, Siemens, Sony, Volvo and LG etc. Foreign investment is more concentrated in Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Nantong, Ningbo and Hangzhou. In 2006, these six cities accounted for over 73% of the region's FDI. Foreign investment in the YRD is mainly engaged in the manufacturing sector, such as the manufacture of computers, mechanical and electrical products, hardware and chemical products etc. Relocation of high-tech industries to the YRD is particularly prominent. In particular, many Taiwan businesses have shifted their high-tech products manufacturing to the YRD region in recent years. Taiwan's high-tech investment is concentrated in Kunshan, Suzhou, and Wuxi, of which many of these companies are engaged in IT products and high-tech electronics such as PCs, semiconductors, integrated circuits, digital cameras and LCD monitors etc. Consumer Market The YRD is one of the mainland's largest and most sophisticated consumer markets. The relatively high income level in the YRD, combined with a large inflow of tourists, resulted in strong consumer demand. Its combined population of 92.2 million contributed to total retail sales of RMB1,235 billion in 2006, which was about 16% of China's total. The consumption pattern in the YRD is also moving towards services. The relative share of urban household expenditure on items like transportation and communications, education, cultural and recreation services have increased in the expense of items like food and household articles. The trend for rising expenditure on new types of durable goods, such as cars and computers, is also salient. % Share of Per Capita Consumption Expenditures of Urban Household
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