County-level industrial clusters given chance to grow in Hebei province

Hebei province has ramped up efforts to boost the high-quality development of its county-level industries, according to local officials.

The province is home to a batch of industrial clusters including luggage wholesale in Baigou town, traditional Chinese medicine in Anguo and the world's largest wire mesh export base in Anping. These hallmark industries have become a driving force for the region's long-term economic growth.

In recent years, the Hebei provincial government has taken county-level industries as a way to transform and upgrade its economy. It has formulated development and revitalization plans, including the Hebei Province County-level Characteristic Industries Revitalization Work Plan and the Hebei Province County-level Characteristic Industrial Clusters Digital Transformation Action Plan (2020-22).

In 2019, the operating income of hallmark industrial clusters in 269 counties in Hebei was 1.98 trillion yuan ($290 billion), a year-on-year increase of 14.85 percent. The province has developed 12 industrial clusters including intelligence manufacturing, green transformation, brand marketing, construction of economic zones and industrial designs.

The industrial design sector is one of the hallmark industries in Hebei, which helps local enterprises increase the added value of products, enhance brand influence and increase supply.

Examples include Xingtai Sanxia Cast Iron Co's recent Red Dot Award for its cookware and the high-end Hongtai cashmere of Qinghe county.

Hebei province has also sped up the development of its smart manufacturing and industrial internet. The province has carried out campaigns such as Internet Plus and "thousands of enterprises going to the cloud", which included 251 digital workshops and more than 8,000 companies.

Gu'an Visionox, a supplier of organic light-emitting diodes or OLED, has formulated and revised 10 of its high-end standards with 5,562 patented technologies.

Hebei has also strengthened the supply chain of its leading companies and upgraded supporting industrial facilities.

Hebei Duofu Food in Qiuxian county is the first Beijing food company to be introduced to the region. Last year, the output value of the company was nearly 100 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20 percent. In the first half of this year, Qiuxian county signed 20 projects, including seven well-known food companies from Beijing and Tianjin.

In Gu'an, two leading companies, Visionox and Chinese electronics component maker BOE Technology Group, have brought about 32 upstream and downstream enterprises. The new display industry has illuminated the county's economy.

The industrial cluster of Longyao Food in Xingtai city is led by Jinmailang, a domestic instant noodle maker, together with upstream packing enterprises and downstream partners in logistics and e-commerce.

Qingxian county in Hebei's Cangzhou city has built high-end food industrial parks, introducing a batch of renowned food brands such as fast food chain Zhouheiya.

The food industry chain in Bazhou city has been further extended, attracting leading agribusiness and food company Yihai Kerry; Daoxiangcun, a time-honored food brand from Beijing; Dali and hotpot heavyweight Haidilao. The city achieved a revenue of 3.64 billion yuan in 2019, a growth rate of 15.6 percent year-on-year.

Over the next few years, Hebei will continue attempts to attract a number of key projects, boost the high-quality development of its hallmark industries and support the province's comprehensive development in the new era.