A massive roll of paper rests on the production line at the Sun Paper factory in Jining, a city in East China's Shandong province. Sun Paper is among the world's top 30 paper manufacturers. [Photo/Jining News]

Jining in East China's Shandong province has made big strides in the industrial economy over the past decade, officials said at a news conference on Oct 12.

By the end of 2021, the city's industrial added value and assets of industrial companies above designated size reached 174.34 billion yuan ($24.29 billion) and 698.97 billion yuan, respectively, up 20.8 percent and 41 percent compared with those in 2012.

The number of industrial companies above designated size – those earning at least 20 million yuan ($2.85 million) annually – increased from 1,551 in 2012 to 2,083 in 2021, up 34.3 percent.

The growth rate of the industrial added value reached 13.1 percent in 2021, which is the highest rate in the past 10 years.

Officials said that the manufacturing sector has played a pivotal role in Jining's industrial growth.

In 2021, the added value and operation revenue of manufacturing companies above designated size accounted for 59.2 percent and 80 percent of the total added value and operating revenue of industrial companies above designated size, respectively, up 13.4 percentage points and 11.6 percentage points from 2012.

Sixty-nine industrial companies earn more than 1 billion yuan in operating revenue annually, 11 earn over 5 billion yuan, while five earn over 10 billion yuan.

Over the past decade, Jining has also developed an advanced industrial cluster consisting of high-end equipment, high-end chemicals, new-generation information technology, new energy, new materials and modern medicine, as well as energy preservation and environmental protection.

Transforming old growth drivers into new ones has been accelerated and has yielded rewards. The investment in each technical adjustment, which totals more than 8,000, exceeds 5 million yuan. 

Almost 70 percent of the city's overall industrial investment was used on the technical transformation. 

Jining's volume of investments in technical transformation has topped Shandong cities in 2020 and 2021.