Photo taken on Oct. 21, 2020 shows a view of the home inns in Longtan Village of Pingnan County in Ningde City, southeast China's Fujian Province.Photo:Xinhua

Driven by the new energy industries, Ningde in East China's Fujian Province has seen booming development, with its 2021 GDP jumping 13.3 percent, taking it into the country's top 100 cities in terms of GDP. 

In 2021, Ningde's industrial added value increased by 32.5 percent year-on-year. The added value of its four leading industries - lithium new energy, new energy vehicles (NEVs), stainless steel materials and copper materials - saw year-on-year growth of 59.1 percent, contributing 107.7 percent of the city's added value growth, data from the Ningde government showed.

The added value of the lithium new energy industry rose 92.1 percent from 2020, contributing 93.7 percent of the city's industrial added value growth. 

Analysts attributed the city's rapid development partly to the success of Contemporary Amperex Technology Company (CATL), one of China's leading electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturers.

In 2007, before the establishment of CATL, the city's GDP only reached 45.74 billion yuan ($7.22 billion), ranking last in Fujian. But with the boom in NEVs since 2016, the city's lithium new energy industry has seen rapid development.

Over the past 10 years, the company has continued to expand its business. Besides providing batteries for US electric car maker Tesla, CATL has also signed a battery supply contract with US electric car maker Electric Last Mile Solution (ELMS) until 2025, according to media reports.

The company has also made investments in major overseas projects, including an acquisition of a Canadian lithium company and investment in a joint lithium project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to data from the local government, the lithium new energy industry became Ningde's second industry cluster in 2021, with output exceeding 100 billion yuan, following its stainless-steel material industry. The shipments of power batteries and consumer batteries by its two leading enterprises have ranked first in the world for five and ten consecutive years, respectively.

Experts noted that the city should continue to focus on the new energy sector in order to further boost its four leading industries as well as accelerating its traditional industrial transformation and upgrading.

In November 2021, the local government issued a five-year plan for high-quality development of its manufacturing industries, noting that by 2025, Ningde's lithium new energy output is expected to reach 400 billion yuan.