City Introduction of Jiangsu, China: Zhenjiang

Major Economic Indicators (2007)

Source: Zhenjiang Economic & Social Development Zone 2007

Introduction

Zhenjiang lies in the southwest of Jiangsu province. It is situated at the intersection of the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal (the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal), the longest man-made canal in the world. It lies to the east of Nanjing, west of Shanghai and south of Nantong.

It serves as an important transportation hub in the Yangtze River Delta. Zhenjiang Port, one of the 5 major ports in Jiangsu (the other four are Nanjing Port, Suzhou Port, Nantong Port and Lianyungang Port), is an important transfer port for goods from the upper and middle parts of the Yangtze River. It is 90 km away from Nanjing Lukou Airport and 60 km from Changzhou Luosuye Airport. The Beijing-Shanghai Railway, Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway, No. 312 State Highway and No. 104 State Highway go through the city. The Beijing-Shanghai Express Railway, scheduled for construction in 2008, will cut the driving time from Zhenjiang to Shanghai to 1 hour.

Economic Features

In 2007, the GDP of Zhenjiang grew 15.5% from the previous year to RMB 121.3 billion, ranking ninth among all the cities in Jiangsu. The value-added industrial output from enterprises with the designated size and above amounted to RMB 58.4 billion, 74% of which was generated by heavy industries. The private economy is very active in the city, with the value-added industrial output surpassing RMB 27.4 billion, making up nearly two thirds of that of the city’s.

The major industries in the city include chemicals, electronic equipment and machinery, metal, paper making and transportation equipment manufacturing industries, which in total accounted for RMB 127.4 million in industrial output, accounting for 57.7% of the city’s total. The large companies there include Sopo Corp, Feida Group, Tiangong Tools, and Chia Hsin Jingyang Cement.

The foreign trade value in 2007 in Zhenjiang amounted to US$6.3 billion, with export rising 38.5% year-on-year to US$2.6 billion. The main export destinations are the U.S. (US$728 million), the E.U. (US$685 million), Japan (US$287 million), South Korea (US$237 million), Hong Kong (US$209 million) and India (US$155 million).

It attracted FDI of US$2.3 billion in 2007, up 39.3% year-on-year, and the utilized FDI increased by 45.6% year-on-year to US$1.1 billion. The state-level and province-level developments have generated US$1.1 billion FDI, accounting for 49.4% of the city’s total, while the utilized FDI in the zones hit US$610 million, making up 57.3% of the city’s total.