A bird's-eye view of the Lego-like containers at Xiamen Port, Fujian province. [Photo/WeChat account: xiamen_swj]

From January through April, economic figures in Xiamen, Fujian province, revealed that the city's economy grew gradually, with indicators in each industry continuously increasing.

The city's added value of industries above the designated size increased 5.3 percent year-on-year from January to April.

Added value of three major industries – computer communications and electronic equipment manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing – was 25.53 billion yuan ($3.82 billion), 6.88 billion yuan, and 6.68 billion yuan, respectively, during the same period.

From January to April, Xiamen's import and export volume hit 275.53 billion yuan, an increase of 5.9 percent year-on-year. Of which, the export volume reached 140.65 billion yuan with an increase of 11.8 percent, which was 1.5 percentage points and 1 percentage point higher than the national average and provincial average, respectively.

The actual use of foreign investment in Xiamen also maintained a steady growth during the same period, growing 32.8 percent year-on-year to 11.86 billion yuan.

In the January-to-April period, Xiamen's fixed asset investment hit 90.38 billion yuan, an increase of 12.3 percent year-on-year. In terms of industrial investment, the city's secondary and tertiary industries raked in 17.18 billion yuan and 73.15 billion yuan in investments, increasing 28.1 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively.

As Xiamen is stepping up its efforts to develop itself into an international consumption-oriented city, it is launching consumption promotion events every month this year. From January to April, the city's retail sales of consumer goods increased by 1 percent to 98.26 billion yuan, while retail sales of enterprises above designated size increased by 5.7 percent to 54.09 billion yuan.