Construction work on a convention and exhibition center project is underway in Jilin city on April 25. [Photo/jlcity.gov.cn]

Jilin city in Northeast China's Jilin province recorded economic growth in the first quarter of 2021, with growth seen in areas including fixed asset investment, total retail sales of consumer goods, operating income of service industries above a designated size, and value-added growth of large-scale industries, Jilin Daily reported.

The first quarter is the traditional off-season for agricultural production. Following the implementation of policies and measures to restore pig production capacity, animal husbandry has become the main driving force for the growth of Jilin's primary production.

As an important industrial city, the fast-growing industrial economy is still the main driving force for the city's economic growth.

In the first quarter of the year, the output value of industries above a designated scale in the city was 42.66 billion yuan ($6.64 billion), a year-on-year increase of 26.3 percent. The added value was 8.04 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.1 percent.

During this period, the output value of the petrochemical industry increased by 22.8 percent, the output value of the metallurgical industry increased by 38.3 percent, the output value of the pharmaceutical industry increased by 35.8 percent, and the output value of the agricultural and sideline food processing industry increased by 16.6 percent.

Jilin has stimulated market vitality and accelerated market recovery through more than 80 promotional activities in various forms.

The city's commerce and trade industry achieved retail sales of 11.61 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.9 percent.

According to statistics, Jilin completed a fixed asset investment of 3.07 billion yuan in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 28.2 percent, which was 6.4 percentage points higher than the provincial average.