Investment boom follows Spring Festival holiday

A part of the Pinglu Economic and Technological Development Zone in Shuozhou city. [Photo by Ren Yongliang for China Daily]

Shanxi is seeing an investment boom in the wake of Spring Festival, showing that investors have increasing confidence in the province.

The city of Jinzhong, for instance, held an investment promotional fair on Feb 3. A total of 15 large projects were signed at the event, with pledged investment totaling 34.68 billion yuan ($5.03 billion).

These projects include a 1.8-billion-yuan intelligent technologies park in the Jinzhong Development Zone, a 1.65-billion yuan graphite material project in Pingyao county and a 3-billion-yuan complex for wind-solar power generation and electricity storage in Xiyang county.

The largest of all is a steel processing industrial park in Jiexiu. An executive in charge of the project said that this will be an environmentally friendly facility that aims for "zero-carbon" steel production.

Officials responsible for Jinzhong's investment promotion said that almost all of the projects are related to the strategic emerging industries in Jinzhong. They added that the projects will play a crucial role in driving the city's high-quality development.

Investor representatives said the reason why they're selecting Jinzhong as the destination for their projects is that the resilience of the local economy and improving business environment provide them with confidence.

Shanxi Aotai Sciences and Industries is an investor that signed up for a smart coal-mining equipment manufacturing project in Jinzhong.

"In our contacts with local businesspeople and government officials, we were impressed with their sense of responsibility and inclusiveness," said the company's board chairman Li Qianbao. "And the city's solid industrial foundation can help us easily identify a supply chain."

Jinzhong has seen steady growth in its industrial strength in recent years, with its GDP surpassing the 210-billion-yuan mark in 2022. It has developed into a provincial leader in emerging industries like new energy vehicles, methanol fuel production and advanced manufacturing.

Thanks to standardized services, streamlined business approval procedures and full-process assistance offered by local government officials, Jinzhong has ranked at the forefront of Shanxi for business environment over the past few years.

In Shanxi, the success stories of many local businesses have proven to be a draw to investors from elsewhere.

Hongsheng Kewei Mining Materials based in Jincheng city, for instance, secured its first order of the new lunar year on Jan 28.

"This is an order for mining shaft supporting materials, worth about 7 million yuan," said Liu Panpan, an executive of the company.

To fulfill this order and the new ones to follow, Liu said her company is gearing up to full capacity. She added that the growing number of orders showed that the company's operations have fully resumed after the three-year COVID-19 pandemic, and she is more optimistic about the company's future growth potential.

Even amid the pandemic in 2022, China Coal Pingshuo Energy and Chemical, a company based in the Pinglu Economic and Technological Development Zone in Shuozhou city, didn't see a halt in its expansion.

"Our company realized a sales revenue of 1.95 billion yuan and a profit of 610 million yuan in 2022," said Ao Yadong, an executive in charge of the company's production management. "Both figures set records in our history."

He said the company's growth was mainly driven by synthetic ammonia made from lower-quality coal.

"Low-quality coal usually sells at low prices," Ao said. "Turning it into ammonia now can generate an added value of 600 yuan per metric ton."

Based on businesses' predictions, authorities of the Pinglu zone projected that its total industrial added value might grow 15 percent year-on-year in 2023. They also expected a 30 percent increase in investment.

Ren Yongliang and Bai Jihong contributed to this story.