Hohhot takes on a different character when the sun goes down. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Hohhot, capital city of North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, maintained steady growth in 2020, with major economic indicators showing relatively good performance despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to information released by the city's development and reform commission. 

The regional GDP of the city for the year was 280.07 billion yuan ($43.27 billion), a year-on-year increase of 0.2 percent. 

Between January and December 2020, the city's general public budget revenue was 21.71 billion yuan, a-year-on-year increase of 6.9 percent. The growth rate was 7.7 percentage points higher than that of the year before. 

Among the cities and leagues of the autonomous region, Hohhot ranked second, the same as the year before. Its growth rate ranked sixth, which was five places higher than the year before.

During the 12-month period, the added value of industrial enterprises above a designated size increased by 4.6 percent year-on-year. This is 3.9 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the wider autonomous region. 

The main factor behind Hohhot's industry maintaining such rapid growth lies in the diversification of its manufacturing industry. The green food processing industry and strategic emerging industries, with the dairy industry as the core, have achieved rapid growth and have become the main driving force for industrial growth in the city. 

The added value of the food manufacturing industry increased by 10.5 percent year-on-year. Of this, the dairy product manufacturing industry increased by 10.6 percent year-on-year, and strategic emerging industries increased by 10.8 percent year-on-year.