Industrial economic growth remained steady in Baotou in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region -- with the average income of industrial enterprises above a designated size increasing by 13 percent year-on-year over the first three quarters of 2019, according to a Baotou Daily report on Nov 6.

Companies of a designated size is a statistical term referring to businesses with annual sales of 20 million yuan ($400,000) or more.

Officials said the growth rate was 7.4 percentage points higher than the national average and 5.3 percentage points higher than the autonomous region’s average.

The added value of strategic emerging industries increased by 21.6 percent year-on-year, accounting for 22.3 percent of the added value of the industrial enterprises above a designated size in the city.

Officials said the five pillar industries in the city showed steady growth in the January to September period.

The added value of the five pillar industries -- steel, aluminum, equipment, rare earth and electric power -- increased by 11.0 percent year-on-year, accounting for 68.9 percent of the city's total industrial added value, and the contribution rate to the city's industrial economic growth was 61.6 percent.

Baotou city has confirmed a total of 265 key new projects for 2019 which are each worth 100 million yuan ($14.3 million) or above. Of these, 163 are related to strategic emerging industries, officials said.

As of the end of September, construction work on 252 key projects had begun, of which some 153 are classified as strategic emerging industry projects.