Location
Ningbo, a city in Zhejiang province, lies in the middle of China's eastern coastline and south wing of the Yangtze River Delta. Zhoushan Islands serves as a natural defense on the city's east side. The islands neighbors Hangzhou Bay in the north, Shengzhou, Xinchang and Shangyu of Shaoxing in the west and Sanmen Bay in south.
Administrative Divisions
Ningbo today has direct jurisdiction over six districts (Haishu, Jiangbei, Zhenhai, Beilun and Yinzhou, Fenghua), two county-level cities (Cixi and Yuyao) and two counties (Ninghai and Xiangshan), involving 77 towns and 11 villages.
Area
The city covers a land area of about 9,714 square kilometers and a sea area of about 8,232.9 square kilometers. It has a coastline running about 1,594.4 kilometers, accounting for 24 percent of the whole coastline of Zhejiang. The city has an urban area of 2,456 square kilometers, with 614 scattered islands covering a total area of 262.9 square kilometers.
Population
5,969,000 registered residents (2017)
8,005,000 permanent residents (2017)
Climate
Ningbo enjoys northern subtropics monsoon climate, with annual average temperature hovering around 16.4 C and annual precipitation running up to 1,480 mm. It is occasionally subjected to drought, typhoon, rainstorm, hailstone, frost and cold waves.
Natural Resources
The city has Sanmen Bay, Hangzhou Bay and Xiangshan Port linking to the Qiantang and Yongjiang rivers, which provide abundant nourishment for neritic organisms.
The Chunxiao oil and gas field sits in the Xihu Trough of East China Sea and about 350 kilometers southeast of Ningbo. It's known as the East Asia's "Persian Gulf", and, covers a total area of 22,000 square kilometers. The field is believed to have 70 billion cubic meters in oil and gas reserves.
Key Industries
Industry dominates Ningbo’s economic activity, contributing to 52.5 percent of its GDP in 2013, while services accounted for 43.6 percent. The industrial sector also registered a growth rate of 8.4 percent year on year to reach a value-added output of US $51.3 billion (RMB 337.8 billion).
Pillar industries in Ningbo are wide-ranging and include textiles, auto parts, iron & steel, power generation, paper-making, plastics, petrochemicals, chemicals, electrical machinery, telecom equipment manufacturing, IT, and port-related industries. The city’s economic activity benefits immensely from its port. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, this port is one of China’s main entry ports for the import of raw materials such as coal, iron ore and petroleum.
Ningbo is also one of China’s oldest cities – its origins date back to the Hemudu culture in 4800 B.C. In 2013, its cultural and historical sites attracted 62.26 million domestic tourists and 1.27 million foreign tourists. This trend has continued to grow and the city received a total of 2.98 million tourists during the one-week Spring Festival holiday in 2015 alone, showing a 5.4 percent increase over the same period in 2014.
As per 2013-2014 estimates, Ningbo was among the fastest growing Chinese metropolitan economies, registering employment and GDP per capita growth rates above the rest of China.
Below are key sectors of interest to U.S. exporters.
- Scrap Materials
Scrap materials include a wide range of commodities such as metals, paper, and plastics. U.S. companies exported US $9.5 billion of scrap in 2012, the two biggest of which were copper materials (US $3 billion) and aluminum materials (US $2.4 billion). According to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries in Washington DC, China has become the destination for about 40 percent of U.S. scrap exports in recent years.
Scrap material is used by Chinese firms to assemble and manufacture finished goods. As an established and diversified manufacturing base in northeast China, Ningbo offers an important market for U.S. exporters of recycled scrap materials.
- Retail
China is currently focused on rebalancing its economy towards a consumer driven growth model. This opens up greater opportunities for U.S. companies to export goods and services to meet the needs of China’s growing middle class. According to the 2014 Global Metro Monitor Map released by Brookings last year, Ningbo’s GDP per capita in 2014 was US $23,153. A high disposable income translates into higher per capita consumption expenditure, which reached US $4,240 (RMB 27,893) among urban residents of Ningbo in 2014.
Ningbo’s retail sales of consumer goods grew 13.5 percent in 2014 to US $45.4 billion (RMB 299.2 billion), accounting for 18 percent of Zhejiang’s total retail sales. Daily average retail sales reached US $124 million (RMB 820 million). The retail sales of petrol and related products grew 14.9 percent; clothing, footwear, headgear and textiles grew 22.5 percent; cars grew 7.6 percent; while food, beverages, tobacco and alcohol grew 8.1 percent. There has also been a marked rise in the ownership of home consumer durables, such as washing machines, refrigerators, TVs, air-conditioners, microwave ovens and mobile phones, among others.
- Agricultural Products
About one-fifth of U.S. exports to China consist of agricultural products. China is the largest export market for U.S. soybeans, with a market share of 63 percent. In 2015, U.S. soybean exports were valued at US $12.7 billion. Soybeans are used in a range of products, including cooking oil, milk and animal feed. Other top U.S. exports include cotton (US $3.4 billion), corn (US $1.3 billion), and animal hides and skins (US $827 million). American agricultural exporters should target Ningbo’s textile, food-processing and hospitality industries.
Ningbo figures among the top 25 second-tier cities attractive for food imports. Its rising middle and high income classes, proximity to port facilities and flourishing tourism and related industries provide key advantages to American food exporters (fresh fruits, seafood, wine, liquor and other farm and food products).
Development Zones
Ningbo Economic & Technological Development Zone (NETD)
Located in the north-east of Ningbo, NETD is 17 miles away from the city center. It is situated behind the Beilun Port, and is close to the Ningbo Port and Ningbo Lishe International Airport. Major investors include Exxon Mobile, Dupont and Dow Chemical. It is focused on chemicals, stainless steel, shipbuilding, automobiles, modern paper making, electric machinery and textiles.
Located in the north-east of Ningbo, NETD is 17 miles away from the city center. It is situated behind the Beilun Port, and is close to the Ningbo Port and Ningbo Lishe International Airport. Major investors include Exxon Mobile, Dupont and Dow Chemical. It is focused on chemicals, stainless steel, shipbuilding, automobiles, modern paper making, electric machinery and textiles.
Ningbo Daxie Development Zone
The Daxie Development Zone was approved in 1993 and has the infrastructure, industrial and logistical foundations for the transshipment of energy, port-related petrochemicals and containers.
The Daxie Development Zone was approved in 1993 and has the infrastructure, industrial and logistical foundations for the transshipment of energy, port-related petrochemicals and containers.
Ningbo National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone
Founded in 1999, the National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone is only 6.2 miles from the Ningbo International Airport and 11 miles from Ningbo Port. The zone is focused on chemical production and processing, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, raw material processing, R&D, photovoltaic and communications, software and micro-electronics.
Founded in 1999, the National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone is only 6.2 miles from the Ningbo International Airport and 11 miles from Ningbo Port. The zone is focused on chemical production and processing, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, raw material processing, R&D, photovoltaic and communications, software and micro-electronics.
