Baotou in the morning mist [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Baotou in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region has reported sound economic performance in the first seven months of 2021 with the added value of industries above a designated scale showing a year-on-year growth of 16.6 percent, according to the city's statistics bureau.

During the seven-month period, the added value of the mining industry increased by 17.0 percent year on year, the manufacturing industry increased by 20.8 percent, and the production and supply of electricity, gas, and water increased by 1.6 percent.

In addition, the added value of the city's five pillar industries (rare earth, steel, aluminum, equipment manufacturing and power industries) increased by 16.4 percent year on year.

Rapid growth has also been recorded in the private economy sector as well as the high-tech industry.

From January to July, the added value of the entire private industry increased by 32.1 percent year on year, which was 15.5 percentage points higher than the city's growth rate of industries above designated size.

In addition, the added value of the city's high-tech manufacturing industry was 1.9 times higher year on year.

From January to July, Baotou's fixed asset investment growth rate accelerated by 3.7 percentage points compared with the first half of the year, and the city's investment increased by 6.0 percent on average over the past two years.

The city's total retail sales of consumer goods was 56.76 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.8 percent.