Wang Tianbin (L) and his workmate of the Tiechanggou repairing team manually remove snow from railway switch in Emin, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Jan. 20, 2021. (Xinhua/Hu Huhu)

The regional GDP of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regiongrew 3.4 percent in 2020, boosted by a booming manufacturingsector and rising agricultural production, a government official said on Wednesday during a press conference. 

The region's economy showed an upward trend despite challenges broughtby the coronavirus pandemic and complicated global environment. There was a surge of coronavirus cases in Urumqi in July 2020 which were brought under control within a short period of time. 

Xinjiang's gross regional product amounted to 1.38 trillion yuan ($213 billion) in 2020, disclosed Xu Bin, director of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Development and Reform Commissionon Wednesday. 

The momentum in manufacturing sector has been an important contributor to the region's economic sector. In 2020, Xinjiang's above-scale industrial added value rose by 6.9 percent on a yearly basis. The growth was thesecond highest among Chinese provinces in 2020, while being the region'shighest level since 2018. 

According to Xu, the manufacturing boom was partly caused by a surge in high-end manufacturing industries. In 2020, the added value of high-tech manufacturing industries in Xinjiang rose 25 percent year-on-year,whilethe added value of strategic industrial emerging industries grew by 20.5 percent. 

Agricultural production also sawa steady climb in 2020 in Xinjiang. The region's grain output amounted to 15.8 million tons in 2020, up 3.7 percent on a yearly basis. Cotton output also rose by 3.2 percent in Xinjiang last year, accounting for almost 90 percent of China's total cotton production and up 2.4 percentage points compared with one year earlier. 

Apart from those dominant industries, Xinjiang's service sector rose slightly by 0.2 percent in terms of added values, contributing to three percentof the region's total economic growth. In particular, revenues of majorInternet and other service industries in Xinjiang rose 49.9 percent, while the revenues of key transportation and storage industries also recorded the same yearly growth. 

Global Times