City Introduction of Jiangsu, China: Suzhou

Suzhou

Major Economic Indicators (2007)

Source: Suzhou Economic & Social Development Report 2007

Introduction

Suzhou is situated on the shores of Taihu Lake in Jiangsu Province with Shanghai to the east, Zhejiang Province to the south and Nanjing to the northwest. It is called the “Oriental Venice” as 42% of the city is covered by water.

It is easily accessible by air, rail and road. Besides the Suzhou Guangfang Airport, the city can also be reached from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport, which are only 86 km and 120 km away respectively. The Beijing-Shanghai Express Railway, scheduled for construction in 2008 will start operations in 2010, shortening the travel time from Shanghai to Suzhou to around 20 minutes.

Economic Features

In 2007, the GDP of Suzhou increased by 16% year-on-year to RMB 570 billion, ranking fifth among all the cities in the Mainland and first among all the cities in Jiangsu Province. Its GDP per capita hit RMB 91,360, ranking second among all the cities in mainland China. The industrial sector, the dominant contributor to the city’s economy, has generated RMB 363.1 billion value-added output, accounting for 63.7% of the city’s GDP.

It has established major industries in communication equipments, PCs and electrical equipment manufacturing, ferrous metal smelting and processing, textiles, equipment manufacturing and chemicals. The 5 major industries realized RMB 996.9 billion in industrial output in 2007, accounting for 62.5% of the city’s total (The figures refer to enterprises with the designated size and above: manufacturing enterprises with annual sales revenue exceeding RMB 5 million and commercial enterprises with annual sales revenue surpassing RMB 2 million)

The private sector is strong in Suzhou. In 2007, the total industrial output value from private companies amounted to RMB 1320 billion, contributing 82.8% of that from the enterprises with the designated size and above(Manufacturing enterprises with annual sales revenue exceeding RMB 5 million and commercial enterprises with annual sales revenue surpassing RMB 2 million).

The high-tech industries have been developing very quickly in recent years. In 2007, the industrial output from high-tech industries amounted to RMB 526.4 billion, making up of 33% of the city’s total industrial output.

The tourism industry, another important contributor, gained RMB 60 billion in revenue, up 15% from 2006. It will participate in the Urban Best Practice Area of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai to exhibit the state of preservation of the Suzhou old city. The event is expected to bring 46 million tourists to the city, which will give a large boost the city's tourism industry.

In 2007, its total foreign trade value rose 22.2% to US$213 billion(including US$118 billion from exports and US$95 billion from imports), making up 60.9% of Jiangsu’s. The export value of mechanical and electrical products topped US$95.7 billion, accounting for 81.1% of the total export value.

In 2007, the utilized FDI edged up 20.9% year-on-year to US$7.4 billion, about one-third of that of Jiangsu’s. There are 118 Fortune 500 enterprises in the city. The utilized FDI of the state-level and province-level development zones stood at US$6.4 billion, making up 86.7% of the city’s total.