Since the beginning of this year, despite the complex and severe macroeconomic environment, Xuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone has continued to strengthen and accelerate its economic development. In the first quarter, the zone achieved a total business revenue growth of 20.6% and a GDP growth of 15%, which are 5.2 and 4 percentage points higher than the provincial and municipal averages, respectively. Notably, the real economy has led strongly with a robust upward trend, and the profits and taxes of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 198%.

Xuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone is the main front for our city's reform and opening up, the main battlefield for the "Three Major and One Large" initiatives, and the main force for transformation and upgrading. The real economy, dominated by advanced manufacturing and modern services, is the lifeblood of the development zone, and developing the real economy is the responsibility of the zone. In the past two years, under the comprehensive influence of domestic and international environments, the leading industries of the zone have faced major challenges of fluctuation and downturn. Under the correct leadership of the municipal party committee and government, and with the care and support of relevant municipal departments, the party working committee and management committee of the zone have assessed the situation, not waited or relied on others, unswervingly pursued transformation and upgrading, and made every effort to support the development of the real economy. They have consolidated and upgraded traditional advantageous industries such as engineering machinery, cultivated and expanded emerging industries such as new energy, new materials, and electronic information, and provided more than 2 billion yuan annually in "real gold and silver" subsidies to benefit enterprises, helping them secure markets and upgrade technology, and building a strong foundation to resist risks and grow stronger. Zhang Funing, member of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee and secretary of the zone's party working committee, emphasized at the zone's economic work conference that the work requirements of the municipal party committee and government should be transformed into practical actions to overcome difficulties. He called for bearing the mission in mind, focusing on key areas, tightening the screws, and energizing the spirit to achieve breakthroughs against the trend and progress while maintaining stability, striving for higher-quality growth and higher-level development, and serving as a vanguard and making new contributions to building a better Xuzhou.

It is learned that since the beginning of this year, the real economy of Xuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone has led strongly with rapid growth. In the first quarter, the output value of industrial enterprises above designated size in the zone increased by 30.9% year-on-year; sales revenue increased by 27.3% year-on-year. The electricity consumption of 15 major monitored users increased by 71.8% year-on-year. Three enterprises—Zhongneng Silicon, GCL Silicon Materials, and Caterpillar—accounted for 20.2% of the city's industrial electricity consumption. Among the 159 industrial enterprises above designated size, 21 had output value growth exceeding 100%, and 36 had growth exceeding 50%, net increases of 10 and 13 respectively compared to the same period last year. The equipment manufacturing industry, mainly engineering machinery, completed output value with a year-on-year increase of 25.3%, driving industrial growth by 15.3 percentage points and contributing 48.4% to industrial growth; the new energy industry, mainly photovoltaic and optoelectronics, completed output value with a year-on-year increase of 98.7%, driving industrial growth by 13.9 percentage points and contributing 44.1% to industrial growth; the biopharmaceutical output value increased by 50.7% year-on-year. XCMG Group's main business revenue increased by 14.4% year-on-year, continuing to lead the national engineering machinery industry; Caterpillar excavators maintained the top market share, with output value increasing by 1214.13% year-on-year; Zhongneng Silicon operated at full capacity, with output value doubling year-on-year; Enhua's new drugs metomidate and ziprasidone are expected to increase sales by 300 million yuan this year. Meanwhile, the main business revenue of modern services increased by 52.4% year-on-year. The zone's first urban complex, Moonstar Global Harbor, is fully leasing, and the world's top 500 German company Metro has successfully settled in.

Major industrial projects have been implemented effectively. The 60 major industrial projects with a total investment of 38.63 billion yuan completed an investment of 1.92 billion yuan, of which 24 projects included in the municipal major project investment plan completed an investment of 660 million yuan, all completing the scheduled progress. Caterpillar's large hydraulic excavator was officially put into production, and Caterpillar's chassis parts and track assembly projects were put into production and operation; projects such as Hengxun Zhonglithium Battery and XCMG Tower Crane are undergoing equipment installation and debugging and are expected to be completed and put into production in the first half of the year; Zhongneng's 350,000-kilowatt self-supplied power plant and 54,000-ton silane method technical transformation project will be put into use and effective within the year, with polysilicon costs controllable below $10/kg, giving it absolute global competitiveness; the Shenghua Elevator project will be completed and mass-produced this year, and the first batch of 70 sets of robots purchased from the world's top 500 ABB will settle in the development zone production base, forming the first unmanned production workshop in the domestic elevator industry.

Investment promotion and selection have achieved remarkable results. A new mechanism combining full-staff investment promotion and professional investment promotion has been implemented, and the tasks of the "Investment Project Promotion Year" have been earnestly carried out, setting off a new upsurge in investment promotion and selection. In the first quarter, the zone had 15 foreign-funded projects under discussion with investment exceeding $50 million each, with a total investment of $1.425 billion and contracted registered foreign capital of $600 million, including 12 industrial projects and 8 projects exceeding $100 million. There were 7 domestic-funded projects under discussion with investment exceeding 1 billion yuan each, with a total investment of 14.5 billion yuan.