In the first three quarters of this year, Baotou's GDP reached 347.09 billion yuan ($48.78 billion), a year-on-year increase of 5.2 percent.

The added value of the primary industry was 5.05 billion yuan, up 5 percent year-on-year; the secondary industry was 163.07 billion yuan, up 6.6 percent; and the tertiary industry was 178.97 billion yuan, up 4 percent.

The added value of industrial enterprises above the designated size — those with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan — increased by 9.9 percent year-on-year. The added value of the mining industry increased by 17.9 percent, the manufacturing industry increased by 8.3 percent, and the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas, and water grew by 8.8 percent.

Among the 34 major industry categories, 22 maintained growth in added value, with a rate of 64.7 percent. Among them, the added value of the non-ferrous metal mining and beneficiation industry (including rare earths) increased by 47.3 percent, driving the added value of industrial enterprises above the designated size up 0.8 percentage points.

The "two rare earth bases" have achieved effective results, with the added value of the rare earth industry increasing by 19.7 percent year-on-year, up 3 percentage points compared to the first half of the year, driving the added value of enterprises above designated size to increase by 2.6 percentage points, with a contribution rate of 26.9 percent.

The added value of the hydrogen energy industry increased by 180.6 percent, with the energy storage industry up by 54.6 percent, both higher by 170.7 and 44.7 percentage points than that of industrial enterprises above the designated size.

Total retail sales of consumer goods reached 66.37 billion yuan, up 7.4 percent year-on-year, and retail sales of social consumer goods by units above the designated size totaled 23.76 billion yuan, up 12.4 percent year-on-year.