Reporters learned from a press conference of the Anhui provincial government on November 12 that since the 14th Five‑Year Plan, Anhui Province has resolutely pursued a strategy of building a strong manufacturing province, driving a leap in its economic structure — from a traditional major agricultural province to a major manufacturing province, and from an energy and raw‑materials base to a hub for emerging industries. Anhui has historically joined the ranks of China’s major industrial provinces, and the province’s industrial economy now displays a new development pattern in five directions.

Uplift in position: growth leads the Yangtze River Delta

According to a provincial leader at the briefing, since the 14th Five‑Year Plan, Anhui’s industrial economy has shown strong resilience and vitality, summarized by the characteristics “fast, advancing, upgrading.”

“Fast” refers to relatively rapid growth. The province’s industrial added value for enterprises above the designated size grew by an average of 7.9% per year, 2 percentage points higher than the national average. In the first three quarters of this year, industrial added value for enterprises above the designated size rose 8.8% year‑on‑year, 2.6 percentage points above the national rate, ranking 4th nationwide and leading both the Yangtze River Delta and the central region.

“Advancing” means rising in total scale and ranking. Total industrial added value reached 1.42 trillion yuan. Industrial revenue for enterprises above the designated size rose from 3.8 trillion yuan to 5.5 trillion yuan, moving from 12th to 6th place nationally, and ranking first in the central and western regions.

“Upgrading” means a greater contribution. Since the 14th Five‑Year Plan, industry’s contribution to provincial GDP growth has remained above 30%, rising to 41.9% in 2024 and reaching 46.4% in the first three quarters of this year — underpinning nearly half of the province’s economic growth.

Improving structure: emerging industries rising rapidly

Anhui has continued to deepen its efforts to attract investment and talent, raised the quality, internationalization and specialization of the World Manufacturing Convention, and focused on cultivating new industries and new drivers, putting its manufacturing sector on a fast track of structural optimization.

Since the 14th Five‑Year Plan, the output value of the province’s strategic emerging industries has grown at an average annual rate of 16.1%; their share of industrial output for enterprises above the designated size rose from 40.3% to 43.6%, ranking 3rd nationwide. The share of high‑tech manufacturing in added value rose from 12.2% to 16.1%. In the first three quarters of this year, high‑tech manufacturing added value grew 27.8% and contributed 46.2% to the growth of provincial industry above the designated size — a new high during the 14th Five‑Year Plan period.

Better quality and efficiency: innovation‑driven results

The province has promoted deep integration of scientific and industrial innovation and advanced intelligent, green transformation. Anhui’s manufacturing high‑quality development index rose from 7th to 6th nationally.

Corporate R&D spending in the province has exceeded 100 billion yuan. Anhui hosts more than 200 nationally recognized innovation platforms, and currently over 90% of industrial firms with annual revenues above 100 million yuan are engaged in innovation activities. Revenue per employee in industrial enterprises above designated size rose from 1.468 million yuan to 1.872 million yuan.

Since the 14th Five‑Year Plan, Anhui’s manufacturing digital and intelligent upgrades have accelerated: the number of industrial enterprises above designated size undergoing digital transformation climbed from under 1,000 to 23,300; the province’s integration of informatization and industrialization ranking improved from 15th to 5th nationally. A group of globally influential “lighthouse” factories, national intelligent factories and 5G factories have been cultivated, with numbers among the top in the country.

By the end of 2024, industry in the province above designated size achieved 7.9% added‑value growth supported by only 3.8% average annual energy consumption growth; cumulative energy consumption per unit of industrial added value fell by 14.2%, 4 percentage points more than the national average decline.

Shifting to new industries: cluster effects prominent

Anhui has focused on cultivating advanced manufacturing clusters and applied a “one‑chain, one‑policy” approach to promote clustering in automotive, high‑end equipment, electronic information, advanced photovoltaics and new energy storage, strengthening the industrial backbone of its manufacturing province strategy.

Since the 14th Five‑Year Plan, provincial annual automobile and new energy vehicle (NEV) output grew by 2 times and 15 times respectively. In the first three quarters of this year, Anhui ranked first in the country for automobile production, NEV production and auto exports. Equipment manufacturing revenue exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan, rising to 6th nationally, with high‑end equipment accounting for nearly half of that revenue. Industrial vehicle production and domestic six‑axis robot shipments both ranked first nationwide. The electronic information industry’s revenue climbed past two 100‑billion‑yuan thresholds and topped 500 billion yuan in 2024. Advanced photovoltaics and new energy storage rank 3rd in overall competitiveness nationwide.

At the same time, Anhui brands and exports have surged: about 10% of the world’s display panels, roughly 8% of China’s industrial robots, 10% of China’s cars and NEVs, 15% of household appliances, 20% of photovoltaic modules, 30% of photovoltaic inverters and industrial vehicles are produced in Anhui. In the first three quarters of this year, exports of the “new trio” products — NEVs, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products — rose 71.9% year‑on‑year.

Stronger firms: a complete gradient cultivation system

Anhui has established a comprehensive system to cultivate high‑quality enterprises across tiers.

Since the 14th Five‑Year Plan, the number of industrial enterprises above designated size in Anhui rose from 18,000 to nearly 25,000; the number of national high‑tech enterprises increased from 8,500 to 23,000; provincial “specialized, refined, distinctive and innovative” enterprises rose from 2,818 to 7,221 — roughly doubling for both categories. Among them, 690 are national “little giant” specialized firms, ranking 8th nationwide. Firms with revenues over 1 billion yuan grew from 454 to 775; those over 10 billion yuan rose from 36 to 61; firms over 100 billion yuan increased from 4 to 6.

High‑quality projects have poured in. From 2022–2024 the province attracted over 10,000 projects each year for three consecutive years, including 129 newly started manufacturing projects of over 5 billion yuan. During the 14th Five‑Year Plan, industrial, technical renovation and manufacturing investments all maintained double‑digit growth for four consecutive years; technical renovation investment averaged 21.2% annual growth, ranking 2nd in the country.

On enterprise services, Anhui created the distinctive “Enterprise Empowerment” service brand, and built a “1+16+X” public service platform network for small and medium enterprises (one provincial hub platform, 16 municipal comprehensive service platforms, and X provincial‑level platforms housing networks of city/county service platforms). This system helps address common problems such as financing and transformation. More than half of the province’s 186 A‑share main board listed companies are “specialized, refined, distinctive and innovative” enterprises.

Source: Anhuinews.com