New Highlights of Regional Development | "Chassis" Stabilizes New Energy "Becomes Momentum" - Yangtze River Delta Accelerates Construction of Strong and Active Growth Pole Investment | Yangtze River Delta | Becomes Momentum

The Yangtze River Delta is an important engine for China's economic development. In the first half of this year, facing severe external challenges, the economic growth rate of the three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta exceeded 6%, making an important contribution to the overall national economy. In addition to the overall figures, the Yangtze River Delta has seen many structural highlights in strengthening the real economy, strengthening new economic drivers, and unleashing integration dividends, and is accelerating the construction of a strong and active growth pole.

Walk towards reality

The real economy is the foundation of a country's economy. Since the beginning of this year, facing external storms, the three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta have gathered together to focus on the development of manufacturing and investment in major projects, ensuring that the development "foundation" is always stable.

In mid June of this year, the Shenghong Biodegradable Materials Project, with a total investment of approximately 6.5 billion yuan, began construction at the Lianyungang Petrochemical Industry Base in Jiangsu Province on the coast of the Yellow Sea. It is planned to be completed and put into operation by 2025. The relevant person in charge of Shenghong Holdings Group stated that the company is building a new energy and new materials industry cluster around a series of major projects such as millions of tons of biodegradable materials.

Liu Jun, Deputy Director of the Major Project Construction Office of the Jiangsu Provincial Development and Reform Commission, said that in the first half of this year, 117 of the 133 provincial-level major projects planned to start construction in Jiangsu have started construction, with a construction rate of 88%. Accelerate the progress of major projects, laying a solid foundation for stable growth.

The picture shows the newly opened international cargo terminal in the eastern area of Hangzhou Airport.

Logistics is the lifeblood of economic operation. In late July, with the project passing the acceptance of the civil aviation department, the Hangzhou Airport East International Cargo Station was officially put into operation.

The Hangzhou Airport East International Cargo Station is a key project in Zhejiang Province and a guarantee project for the Hangzhou Asian Games, with a total investment of 1.489 billion yuan. Compared with the original international cargo terminal at Hangzhou Airport, the new cargo terminal has a construction area nearly 5 times that of the old cargo terminal, with an annual cargo and mail throughput capacity of 600000 tons, which can provide high-quality support for the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games.

Statistics show that in the first half of this year, industrial investment in Shanghai increased by 34.3% year-on-year, while manufacturing investment in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui increased by 10.1%, 17.6%, and 21.6% year-on-year, respectively. The trend towards "real" investment is very obvious.

"The real economy is the anchor of a city's development," said Wu Jincheng, director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology.

Make efforts towards "new"

In the first half of this year, the export of new three types of foreign trade, represented by electric passenger vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells, continued to be hot. According to statistics from Shanghai Customs, the export value of the "new three samples" of foreign trade at Shanghai ports reached 247.8 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 74.7%. The export performance of the "new three types" has become a microcosm of the Yangtze River Delta's efforts towards "new".

In the first half of this year, the production of new energy vehicles in Shanghai reached 612000 units, a year-on-year increase of 65.7%. At present, there are 8 complete vehicle companies layout in Shanghai. The Tesla Shanghai Superfactory located in the Lingang New Area has the highest production capacity among Tesla's global factories, with a production efficiency of one vehicle in less than 40 seconds.

In Changzhou, Jiangsu, there is BYD in the north and Ideal Automobile in the south. The two vehicle factories are less than 40 kilometers away in a straight line. In the first half of 2023, the total production was about 270000 vehicles, accounting for 66.9% of the total in the province.

Xuancheng, located in the southeast of Anhui, has over 600 automotive parts enterprises. In Ningguo City, under the jurisdiction of Xuancheng, Anhui Longwei Automotive Parts Co., Ltd. is rushing to enter the equipment site for its air spring intelligent manufacturing project. "Enterprises are in a saturated state of orders and urgently need to expand production capacity to achieve greater breakthroughs," said Du Wei, Manager of the Comprehensive Management Department of Longwei Company.

The workers at the Ideal Automobile Changzhou base are intensifying production. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Bo

Shanghai, Changzhou, Jiangsu, and Xuancheng, Anhui are all located within the "4-hour industrial circle" of new energy vehicles in the Yangtze River Delta. Through the coordinated development of industrial clusters, new energy vehicle manufacturers in the Yangtze River Delta can solve the supply of supporting components within a 4-hour drive.

The growth of the new economy cannot be separated from the support of technological innovation and the empowerment of digitization. Ningbo Junling Mold Technology Co., Ltd., a mold die-casting enterprise with only about 200 employees, has achieved a year-on-year growth of over 100% in major indicators in the first half of this year by digitizing the processing process, sharing orders with dozens of small and micro suppliers, and offsetting risks.

"Enterprises that master core technologies have much higher risk resistance than traditional enterprises," said Yang Yiqing, Executive Vice Dean of Zhejiang Business Research Institute at Zhejiang University of Business and Technology. In order to achieve high-quality regional economic development, it is necessary to form an integrated development ecosystem for large, medium, and small enterprises, and work together to build innovative industrial clusters.

Advance towards "depth"

Unveiling the plaque! At the end of July this year, the Yangtze River Delta Ecological Green Integration Development Demonstration Zone welcomed the establishment of the first cross provincial high-tech industry development zone in China. The demonstration zone covers an area of 19.54 square kilometers and will focus on developing three strategic emerging industries: digital industry, intelligent manufacturing, and green new materials, as well as two characteristic industries: headquarters economy and green scientific and technological innovation services.

"The state supports the demonstration zone to 'not break administrative subordination and administrative boundaries', becoming the most distinctive advantage of creating cross provincial high-tech zones in the demonstration zone." Zhu Zhengwei, Minister of Business and Industrial Development of the Executive Committee of the Yangtze River Delta Ecological Green Integration Development Demonstration Zone, said that the demonstration zone's high-tech zone will integrate cross regional scientific and technological innovation resources and build a regional integrated modern industrial system.

From transportation to people's livelihood, from science and technology innovation to industry, since the beginning of this year, the three provinces and one city have been promoting the integration of the Yangtze River Delta in depth, accelerating the release of the dividends of institutional innovation.

The second phase of the Huaqi Yungu Huaihai Intelligent Manufacturing Park project, which covers an area of 104 acres and is located in the Xiaoxian High tech Park in Zhangjiang, Anhui Province, is very busy. Eight factories are under construction and are expected to be delivered for use early next year.

As a cooperation platform for science and technology innovation industries between Shanghai and Anhui, Zhangjiang Xiaoxian High tech Park has gathered 125 enterprises and created more than 12000 jobs. "Under the integrated development pattern of the Yangtze River Delta, Xiaoxian in Anhui and Xuzhou in Jiangsu are becoming increasingly urbanized, bringing us huge development opportunities," said Yao Qiang, Chairman of Huaqi Yungu Enterprise Development Co., Ltd.

Chen Xiaojun, Chairman of Ligao Holding Group Co., Ltd., a leading luggage manufacturing enterprise, has visited overseas markets for three months this year. Ligao Holdings invested and built a factory in Anhui early on. In the past three years, this company has relied on "dual circulation" to achieve an average annual revenue growth of over 30%. The integration of the Yangtze River Delta has laid a solid foundation for enterprises to step out of Zhejiang and expand their growth space.

According to statistics from the Anhui Provincial Development and Reform Commission, the proportion of funds from Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces to actual funds from outside the province has increased from 47.8% in 2018 to 58.9% in 2022. "Taking advantage of the east wind of the Yangtze River Delta and riding the fast train of integration has profoundly changed the development trend of Anhui in the country." Guo Hao, Deputy Director of the Anhui Provincial Development and Reform Commission, said that in the next step, Anhui will also work together with Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang to continuously achieve new breakthroughs in the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta.

Poster production: Wei Guanyu