Shandong province has been ramping up efforts to transform and upgrade its manufacturing sector by leveraging the latest technologies to move up the value chain and meet diverse demands during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), local authorities said at a recent news conference.

In 2019, the industrial added value in Shandong reached 2.3 trillion yuan ($351.67 billion), accounting for 7.2 percent of the nation's total.

An employee works on the production line of an automobile company in Qingzhou, Shandong province. [Photo by Wang Jilin/For China Daily]

Last year, the province had 10 major industries that generated a combined income amounting to more than 10 percent of the national total, and 29 industries whose operating income accounted for more than 5 percent of the national total.

This year, 14 counties (county-level cities) and 11 districts in Shandong were listed in China's top 100 industrial counties and top 100 industrial districts.

The strength of market entities has been significantly enhanced over the past five years. Today, the province is home to 11.71 million market entities, among which 26,363 are industrial enterprises above designated size.

This year, five enterprises based in Shandong were included on the Global Fortune 500 Company List, namely Shandong Energy Group, Yankuang Group, Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering Group, Haier Group and Shandong Iron & Steel Group.

Eighty-three enterprises from Shandong made the 2020 list of China's top 500 manufacturing enterprises, while the number of high-tech enterprises has reached 11,500, nearly triple the number in 2015.

Meanwhile, the share of the value-add of the "Four New Economy" (new technology, new business pattern, new development mode, and new industry) in GDP rose from 22 percent in 2016 to 28 percent in 2019, and is expected to exceed 30 percent this year.