Guangdong government officials in September released a list of the province's 50 wealthiest industrial enterprises whose combined revenues reached 765.3 billion RMB. This is double the amount of the province's top 50 industrial companies in 2000.

Lenovo International Information Products (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd topped this year's list with revenue of 46.72 billion RMB, while Guangzhou Auto-mobile Group and TCL Group finished second and third place with revenues of 43 billion RMB and 42 billion RMB respectively.

Other enterprises selected as Guangdong's top ten included Sinopec Maoming Refining & Chemical Co., Ltd., Huawei, Midea, China International Marine Containers (Group) Ltd., Guangdong Yudean Group Co., Ltd., ZTE and Guangzhou Iron & Steel Enterprises Group.

ENGINE OF INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

Statistics showed the province's top 50 industrial enterprises in 2004 generated an average revenue of 15.31 billion RMB, 22.2 percent higher than the top 50 companies in 2003. There were 34 industrial enterprises in Guangdong that had annual revenues of over 10 billion RMB last year, while there were only seven in 2000. The province's top 50 industrial enterprises in 2004 also witnessed 16.8 percent and 47.1 percent increases in combined assets and profits respectively over the top 50 in 2003.

These 50 wealthiest industrial enterprises have a stronger profit-yielding capacity than other large enterprises in the province. The 50 enterprises owned 26.8 percent of the total assets of Guangdong's large enterprises, while they contributed 26.4 percent of their total revenue and 45.8 percent of their profit. The 50 enterprises booked a 10.4 percent return on asset (ROA), while the corresponding index of all other large enterprises in the province was 6.1 percent. The selected enterprises re-present the leading force in the development of Guangdong's industrial economy.

RISING INDUSTRIES

Thirty-five of the listed 50 industrial enterprises are from electronics and information technology (IT), machinery and petrochemicals industries, these are known as the province's three rising industries. Six of these 50 enterprises are from the province's potential industries, including two from pharmaceuticals and four from auto manufacturing. These 41 enterprises from rising industries and potential industries account for 73.4 percent of the top 50 industrial companies' total assets, 63.1 percent of their revenues and 73.4 percent of their profit.

PEARL RIVER DELTA STILL THE CORE

Ninety-four percent of Guangdong's top 50 industrial enterprises are located in the Pearl River Delta region (PRD), which encompasses nine of the province's 21 cities. Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the two wealthiest cities in the province, are home to 15 and 18 of the top enterprises respectively. PRD region has been also one of the hottest spot for investors for the past two decades.

Mountainous areas in north Guangdong and the eastern and western wings of the province are seeking better app-roaches to develop their industry and to improve their investment environments in order to attract more domestic and overseas investments.

PRIVATE ENTERPRISES

Among the 50 selected enterprises, state-owned enterprises, state-owned holding enterprises and foreign-invested companies had an overwhelming advantage in terms of numbers while pr-ivate enterprises were weak in comparison. Only four of Guangdong's top 50 enterprises are local private enterprises, including Huawei (ranking 4th), Midea (5th), Galanz (28th), and Kelon (32nd). These four are all from the electronics and IT sector.

According to officials, the reason for the absence of local private enterprises on the list was that most of them lacked solid financial and governmental sup-port and are unable to maintain sustain-able development.

CHALLENGE FROM OTHER PROVINCES

In August, the National Bureau of Statistics of China released a list of China's 1000 wealthiest industrial enterprises. Among the nation's top 1000, Guangdong accounted for 113, ranking 3rd after Jiangsu and Shandong, which were home to 122 and 121 selected enterprises respectively.

Guangdong ranked number one in last year's list, with 158 enterprises selected. The drastic decrease in term of numbers of selected enterprises this year indicates a decrease in Guangdong's large industrial enterprise development in com-parison to other provinces and regions of China.

Sources also revealed that Guangdong lost its edge in terms of industrial output to Shandong in the first half of this year. Therefore, it is urgent for Guangdong and its enterprises to maintain a relatively fast and stable industrial development and to deal with the competition brought on by other fast-developing provinces of the nation and by other factors, such as international industrial transfer and China's further opening up in light of its WTO commitment.   

Editor: Yan