By Wang Danna (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-10-26 07:05

A cattle farm in Heilongjiang Province. With large pastures, rich resources of crop straw, and protein-rich grass, Heilongjiang is termed the cradle of China's animal husbandry industry.

Shuangyashan, Heilongjiang Province's "coal city", has changed its economic development strategy from concentrating simply on the coal industry to balanced industrial development involving coal, steel, agricultural products processing and other industries.

The city's total industrial output value increased to 16.92 billion yuan in 2006 from 9.33 billion yuan in 2002, with tax revenue from non-coal industries making up more than 60 percent of the city's total during the period.

The growth rates of Shuangyashan's industrial output value, urban fixed-asset investment and industrial profits were the highest among all cities in the province last year.

During the first seven months of 2007, the total industrial output value of the city witnessed a 13.4-percent growth year-on-year, while its fiscal revenue increased 42.3 percent. Shuangyashan's foreign trade grew 169.2 percent and urban per capita disposable income was up 20.1 percent from last year.

To change its economic growth pattern, the city has implemented a great number of new investment projects since 2002, including 259 projects with more than 10 million yuan investment each and 53 projects with investments of more than 100 million yuan each. These projects have played an important role in promoting local economic development.

The city's large enterprises, such as the Yanglin Grease Group and the Jianlong Group, are the major contributors in local fixed-asset investment and have made great contributions to the city's economic growth.

The Shuangyashan-based Yanglin Grease Group is the biggest private enterprise in Heilongjiang Province, with the capacity to process 660,000 tons of soybean each year.

Since 2002, the group has invested 177 million yuan in expanding its production scale. It has developed into a comprehensive soybean processing enterprise engaged in the production of soybean salad oil, soybean meal, textured soybean protein, isolated soybean protein, soybean isoflavone and concentrated phospholipide.

The group has developed a two-phase project. The first phase was completed at the end of 2005, realizing an output value of 600 million yuan and pre-tax profits of 18 million yuan last year.

The second phase is expected to be completed this year and the new project is designed to have an annual output value of 1.5 billion yuan and pre-tax profits of 72 million yuan.

Established with a total investment of 2.11 billion yuan in 2002, the Jianlong Group in Shuangyashan is now one of the top 500 private enterprises in China.

Its subsidiaries like Jianlong Mines, Jianlong Chemicals and Jianlong Steel are backbone projects in the Shuangyashan Steel and Iron Industrial Park.

The Jianlong Group produces a wide range of products including iron ore powder, coke, gas, coal tar, soot carbon, iron, steel, plywood, seamless steel pipe and slag cement.

It is one of the most important enterprises in the Shuangyashan Steel and Iron Industrial Park because it has created a complete industrial chain.

(China Daily 10/26/2007 page19)