On July 21st, the Information Office of Anhui Provincial People’s Government held a press conference to brief on the province’s economic performance in the first half of this year. The data shows the regional gross domestic product (GDP) reached 2,572.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.6% at constant prices, outpacing the national average by 0.3 percentage points. 

The total summer grain output was 35.24 billion catties, an increase of 50 million catties, ranking third nationwide after Henan and Shandong.

This achievement stems from expanded sowing areas and relatively stable yields per unit area. 

In H1, Anhui’s industrial sector demonstrated robust momentum overall: Value-added output from industries above designated size surged 8.4%, with manufacturing expanding at 10.4%—serving as the primary growth engine. 

Specifically, production of industrial robots skyrocketed by 93.3%, while integrated circuit output grew by 9.9%. 

In the first half of the year, Anhui's tertiary industry recorded an added value of 1.4491 trillion yuan, representing a 5.3% increase. Exhibition venues saw frequent on-site contract signings, with leasing and business services growing by 13.1%, information transmission, software and IT services increasing by 6.2%, and transportation sector rising by 5.6%. From January to May, service enterprises above designated size in Anhui achieved 5.4% revenue growth. 

Retail markets maintained steady growth, with notable success from trade-in programs for upgrading consumer goods.

In H1, smartphone sales soared 99.3%, household appliance and audiovisual equipment retail jumped 21.3%. These figures vividly illustrate Anhui’s total retail sales of consumer goods reaching 1,205.1 billion yuan during this period. 

Regarding investment, fixed asset structures optimized with rapid growth in infrastructure spending.

In the first half of the year, Anhui's foreign trade achieved record-breaking import-export volume of 458.5 billion yuan, marking a 15.2% growth and setting a new historical high for the same period. Anhui's growth rates for total trade, exports and imports exceeded the national average by 12.3, 8.2 and 17.4 percentage points respectively. Notably, the province ranked 6th nationwide and 1st in the Yangtze River Delta region for its import-export growth rate.

Among Anhui's export commodities, electromechanical products remained the dominant category, accounting for 71.9% of total exports. Particularly noteworthy were the 'new trio' of green and low-carbon products - lithium-ion batteries, photovoltaic products, and electric vehicles. These three categories collectively achieved 37.1 billion yuan in exports, representing robust 67.8% growth.

Source: anhuinews.com