31 provinces have released their half-year economic “report cards”. At which table will Hunan sit?
2024-08-06
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As we bid farewell to July and usher in August, the economic "semi-annual reports" of 31 provinces and 14 cities and prefectures within the provinces have all been released.
From a national perspective, how did Hunan's economy perform in the first half of the year? What were the highlights? And what "answers" did the 14 cities and prefectures in the province deliver?
1
Total volume: Continues to rank 9th
On July 15, the national economic performance in the first half of the year was released - the gross domestic product (GDP) was 61,683.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.0% at constant prices. The national economy continued to recover and improve, with overall stable operation and steady progress.
Since then, each province has released its own economic performance in the first half of the year. A careful study of the economic performance of the 31 provinces is worth talking about.
(Source: China Economic Net)
First, let's look at the total GDP. In the first half of the year, a total of 13 provinces had GDP of more than 2 trillion yuan, of which Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shandong provinces, known as the "iron triangle", continued to rank in the top three, followed by Zhejiang and Henan.
Two highlights are that Zhejiang's total value in the first half of the year exceeded 4 trillion yuan for the first time; compared with the ranking in 2023, Henan surpassed Sichuan and temporarily ranked fifth.
Looking at the growth rate, in the first half of the year, the GDP growth rate of 16 provinces (regions and cities), including Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang, was faster than the national level, and Inner Mongolia led the country with a growth rate of 6.2%.
Finally, let’s look at Hunan.
On July 17, the Hunan Provincial Bureau of Statistics announced that the province's GDP in the first half of the year was 2,454.52 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.5%. The overall economic operation was stable, with steady progress.
Looking at the whole country, if we look at the growth rate, although Hunan is lower than the national average, its total volume ranks 9th, the same as last year.
It is worth noting that Anhui, also a central province, maintained rapid growth in the first half of the year, with a growth rate of 5.3% and a GDP of 2.3967 trillion yuan. Compared with 2023, its ranking has surpassed Shanghai, and the total amount is only 50 billion yuan away from Hunan, which can be said to be within reach.
2
Highlights: The growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods ranked first in the country
Although the growth rate is average, to be realistic, Hunan experienced severe challenges such as rain, snow, ice, heavy rain and floods in the first half of the year. It is not easy for economic development to achieve steady progress.
Among them, many fields have also achieved impressive results, which deserve praise.
The most prominent is consumption.
Since the beginning of this year, Hunan has focused on five major areas, including consumption policies, business formats, activities, platforms, and environment, and has vigorously implemented actions to stimulate demand, with remarkable results.
From January to June, Hunan's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 1,016.99 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.7%, 2 percentage points higher than the national average, ranking first in the country.
In particular, policies represented by the old-for-new policy for consumer goods have guided the orderly release of residents' consumption potential and played a significant "catalytic" role in driving the growth of durable consumer goods such as automobiles and home appliances.
As of mid-July, the province had received more than 8,600 applications for scrapping and renewal subsidies and more than 23,000 applications for replacement and renewal subsidies, which cumulatively drove vehicle sales to more than 5.5 billion yuan.
In terms of industry, the province's industrial added value increased by 6.8%, 2.3 percentage points higher than the GDP growth rate and 0.8 percentage points higher than the national average, and the "ballast stone" was further strengthened.
On June 12, the list of the top 50 global construction machinery manufacturers in 2024 was released, with 13 Chinese companies on the list, including 5 from Hunan. In 2023, the total sales of the five Hunan companies reached US$19.456 billion, accounting for nearly half of the total sales of Chinese companies on the list.
(Zoomlion’s representative products are lined up on the finished product display platform of Zoomlion Lugu Industrial Park. Photo by Hunan Daily Omnimedia reporter Gu Pengbo)
In the first half of the year, the equipment manufacturing industry represented by construction machinery grew by 8.3%, driving the growth of large-scale industry by 2.5 percentage points.
In addition, guided by intelligence, greening and high-end development, the "gold content", "intelligence content" and "green content" of "Xiang brand" industrial products are constantly improving. Statistics show that in the first half of the year, the added value of high-tech manufacturing industries above designated size in Hunan increased by 16.3% year-on-year.
3
Looking at cities and prefectures: Zhuzhou ranks first in the province in terms of growth rate
While the 31 provinces released their results one by one, the economic "semi-annual reports" of the 14 cities and prefectures in the province were also released one by one.
In terms of total GDP, the provincial capital Changsha is of course number one, but in terms of growth rate, it is a bit surprising - the number one is not Changsha, nor Yueyang or Hengyang, but the old industrial city of Zhuzhou.
According to the Zhuzhou Municipal Bureau of Statistics, Zhuzhou's GDP in the first half of the year was 185.363 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%, ranking first in the province.
Why is Zhuzhou ranked first in terms of growth rate? It is still due to industry. From January to June, Zhuzhou's industrial added value increased by 9.5%, accounting for 36.8% of GDP, and its contribution rate to GDP was 63.6%, driving GDP growth by 3.7 percentage points.
Behind the numbers is the fact that Zhuzhou has continued to promote transformation and upgrading in recent years, and high-tech industries such as rail, aviation, and Beidou have developed steadily, and it can be said that they have now entered the harvest period.
(In the assembly workshop of CRRC Zhuzhou Urban Rail Division, technicians are stepping up the assembly of urban rail vehicles to meet orders from domestic and foreign customers. Photo by Li Jian, an all-media reporter from Hunan Daily)
As for the rest, Chenzhou and Loudi grew by 5.7% and 5.6% year-on-year respectively, ranking second and third.
The growth rates of Hengyang, Xiangtan, Shaoyang, Yiyang, Yongzhou, Huaihua and Changsha reached or exceeded that of Hunan Province.
Changsha naturally has to be discussed separately.
In the first half of the year, Changsha's GDP was 717.021 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.9 billion yuan, a growth rate of 4.5%. Objectively speaking, this growth rate is not very ideal, whether compared with other cities in China or other cities in the province.
The semi-annual economic report of the national trillion-yuan city rankings shows that Changsha was overtaken by Zhengzhou and ranked 16th, one place lower than in 2023. At the same time, the gap between Changsha and Wuxi, which ranked 14th, has further widened, and it has fallen behind by 30 billion in half a year.
The growth rates of Wuxi and Zhengzhou in the first half of the year were 5.9% and 5.3% respectively. Changsha will catch up in the second half of the year. It will be worth looking forward to whether it has a chance to overtake.
(Source: Chao News)
At present, the international situation is still turbulent, with opportunities and challenges coexisting. 2024 is just halfway through, and both Changsha and the entire province of Hunan still have great potential to move forward towards the set goals.
Source: WeChat public account of "Kancaibang" (author: Wang Liang)
Editor: Liu Ying
