Sourcing in Beijing Essential Manufacturing Information

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Introduction

As the capital of China and the most populous city in China after Shanghai, it comes as no surprise that Beijing is home to the headquarters of a majority of China's largest state-owned companies. Beijing is known for its lavish palaces, temples, cultural and historical sites to name a few.
Beijing is also one of the four autonomous municipalities along with Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing. Furthermore, Beijing offers opportunities and a vast amount of resources for businesses seeking to source for suppliers and manufacturers.
Read on to find out more about sourcing from Beijing as well as tips & advice.

General Background

Beijing is mainly noted for the strong presence of various science and technology R&D facilities. Moreover, 79 universities that enrol over 537,000 students annually are situated here. There are also 27 economically incentivized areas, and 306 scientific research institutions conducting R&D activities. Hence, Beijing has come to be known as "China's Silicon Valley."
Generally, Beijing's service sector contributed to 76.5% of the city's GDP in 2012. The three top sectors were financial services, wholesale & retail trade, and lastly IT services. In recent years Beijing has pushed forward the modern services sector, comprising of the development of services outsourcing, cultural and creative industries.
Beijing's industrial sector is dominated by heavy industries which accounted for 84.6% of Beijing's gross industrial output. Other major industries consist of chemicals, telecommunication equipment and food-making.

Main Industries

Heavy Industries & Metallurgy
Accounting for about 10% of China's gross industrial output, heavy industries and metallurgy play a key role in Beijing's industrial sector. A wide variety of Beijing metallurgy manufacturers and suppliers that produce machinery parts and other metallurgy-related services like metal injection moulding can be found within Beijing.
Chemicals
Beijing industries specialize in the processing of petroleum, coking, processing of nuclear fuel, non-metallic mineral products, raw chemical materials and chemical products.
Technology: telecommunication equipment
To compete with key world superpowers, Beijing has sought to develop and promote its hi-tech industries, for example, electronics, information technology, biological engineering, pharmaceuticals and new materials. As of 2012, the add-value of hi-tech industries comprising of electronic and telecommunication equipment producers mounted to RMB124 billion, representing about 7% of Beijing's GDP.
Food & Beverage
As part of China's effort to strike ahead in the retail and tourism industries, the food and beverage industry has inevitably been developing over the years and currently accounts for 5% of Beijing's gross industrial output –number is expected to grow as food and beverage suppliers in Beijing are currently on the rise.

Major Areas – Tianjin

Beijing holds such industrial strength partly due to its sister city, the manufacturing giant Tianjin.
Tianjin's leading industries include mobile phones, aerospace & aviation, alternative energy and most important, automotive production. As the fourth largest port in mainland China, the title "a port for the emperor" – an English understanding of the name "Tianjin – seems fit for this major city that has attracted 110 of the top 500 in the world, namely Motorola, Samsung, Toyota and LG.

Consultants in Beijing

As sourcing for trusted and reliable suppliers can be complicated and daunting, you can engage a consultant or inspection agent in Beijing. For selection of specific electronic manufacturers, you can discover more tips here.