Industrial economy

    Ningbo is an important industrial base in Zhejiang Province and also a major production base of grain, cotton, edible oil and aquatic products in China. A comprehensive industrial setup has come into being with light and textile, garments, machinery as its traditional mainstay, and large-scale harbour-based industries represented by petrochemicals, iron & steel, power generation and paper-making etc. The private economy appeared early and developed rapidly, so the market-oriented economy is booming. 215,700 families are engaged in industrial and commercial activities individually, involving 381,000 employees and registered capital of RMB 5.917 billion. There are 62,500 private enterprises, involving 1.0187 million employees and registered capital of RMB 53.671 billion, of which nine are national 500 best private enterprises and eight are provincial 50 best private enterprises. 99 products made in Ningbo rank the first in the country, of which 95% are produced by private enterprises.

Rural economy

    Steady progress was made in agriculture. The total output value of the primary industry was 14,840 million yuan, up 5.3% over the previous year. Remarkable progress has been made in the adjustment of agricultural structure. The cultivated area of traditional crop decreased more, down 20.1%, and that of cotton decreased by near third. At the same time, all kinds of economic corn such as vegetables, fruits, medicinal materials have been rapidly developed. The cultivated area of this kind of crop increased 509,000 mu. Steady progress was made in fishery, and the marine cultivated area increased 177,300 mu. The production of aquatic products reached 816,200 ton. The conditions for agricultural production have continuously improved. The mechanization of agriculture continued to be upgraded. In this year, an investment of 1.95 billion yuan was made to improve agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fisheries and water conservancy facilities. The construction of 280km of a planned standard seawall has been completed. The total mechanical power of agriculture reached 1,900,000 kw, up 1.6% over the previous year.

Foreign trade

    As a historical port city for foreign trade, Ningbo had become one of the three ports for foreign trade in China as early as the 7th century. In 2002, the self-oriented import and export trade volume of Ningbo amounted to 12.273 billion US dollars, increasing by 30.70% as compared with 2001.The growth rate of exports stayed middling in China. In 2002, the actual foreign capital utilized in Ningbo reached 1.247 billion US dollars, increasing by 43% over the precious year. All these achievements have laid a solid foundation for further development of Ningbo's export-oriented economy.

More statistics

    By February 2005, the national revenue system of Ningbo has netted 220.5 million yuan in tax revenues, exclusive of the taxes collected by the Customs on its behalf, up 14.9% from the same period last year. And the tax revenues of January and February combined add up to 556.3 million yuan, a 31.1% increase over last year, of which domestic VAT comes to 325.3 million, up 37.8% and domestic consumer taxes, 79.2 million, down 4.1%. And up to 28 March 2005, the number of enterprises registered in Ningbo Customs has exceeded ten thousand (10,020), a 20.5% year-on-year increase. Of all this figure, there are 9,301 self-aided declaration enterprises, 58 agent declaration ones, 9 units specialising in customs declaration and 652 processing and production enterprises. According to the newest statistics by State Department of Commerce, Ningbo is listed 8th of Chinese cities for its export of 16.69 billion yuan made last year. With its increase rate of 38.2%, Ningbo is the first of the top ten. In the year, Ningbo introduced an investment of 4.136 billion yuan by its contract value, which was the third of the 15 sub-provincial cities. Its turnover in foreign economy reached 484 million US dollars, the second in the fifteen. On 17 March, the 2005 Bluebook of Competitive Power of Chinese Cities and the Forum on the Competitiveness of Chinese Cities report the comprehensive power and individual competitive indexes of 200 cities of China. In the Bluebook, Ningbo City is placed 6th of the reported cities, two places forward than it was last year. All these figures show that Ningbo is now in the lead in its opening to the outside world.