Baotou in Inner Mongolia autonomous region [Photo/Baotou Daily]

Baotou in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region has reported strong economic performance in the first eight months of 2021, with the added value of industries above a designated scale showing a year-on-year growth of 16.3 percent, according to the city's statistics bureau.

During the eight-month period, the added value of the mining industry increased by 15.5 percent year-on-year, while the manufacturing industry increased by 20.4 percent, and the production and supply of electricity, gas, and water increased by 2.3 percent.

In addition, the added value of the city's five pillar industries (rare earth, steel, aluminum, equipment manufacturing and power industries) increased by 15.2 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 August, the added value of the entire private industry increased by 26.0 percent year on year, which was 9.7 percentage points higher than the city's growth rate of industries above designated size.

In addition, the growth rate of the added value of the city's high-tech manufacturing industry has remained above 80 percent this year, with an average growth rate of 64.8 percent over the two years.

During the period, Baotou's fixed asset investment grew by 54.1 percent year-on-year, and increased by 4.9 percent on average over the past two years.

The city's total retail sales of consumer goods were 65.26 billion yuan ($10.11 billion), a year-on-year increase of 11.9 percent.

From January to August, the overall level of consumer prices in the city fell by 0.1 percent year-on-year. The prices of eight categories of goods and services all decreased, with the exception of food, tobacco and alcohol as well as transportation and communications, which rose by 0.9 percent and 2.1 percent respectively.