Why are so many companies choosing Yichang?
Yichang is surrounded by mountains, rivers, and lakes and located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in China.
In recent years, more and more companies, such as L’Oréal, Dongfeng Motor Group, GAC Group, Humanwell Healthcare and CATL, have chosen to build factories or develop strategic projects in Yichang. Why? What is so special about Yichang?
Location, location, location
Yichang is part of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which spans three of China’s major economic hubs from west to east, covering 11 provinces. The belt has a population of about 600 million, covers about 2.05 million square kilometers, and accounts for 45 percent of the country's GDP.
Yichang has long been known as the "Gateway to the Three Gorges", and the "Sichuan-Hubei Gullet". When traffic is flowing smoothly in Yichang, the flow of people and goods in the whole Yangtze River basin will be smooth. The city has excellent transport connections and its logistics infrastructure keeps improving.
Thriving by the River
Yichang’s prosperity owes a lot to the Yangtze, its “mother river”. The rapid development of Yichang is inseparable from the development of the Yangtze River system.
The Yangtze River is the world's busiest inland river transport system. Each year, more than 60,000 ships, half a million crew members and 2 million tourists scale the heights of the Three Gorges Dam or are transferred in Yichang to other types of transport.
The construction of the Three Gorges Project and other major engineering projects galvanized this small town, which has rapidly grown into a regional powerhouse.
L’Oréal Group's Tianmei factory in Yichang is now L’Oréal Group's largest makeup production base in Asia-Pacific. Yichang’s rich water resources, a vital component in the production process, have been a key enabler of this growth.
Rich mineral reserves -- phosphate
Yichang has the largest phosphate mine in the Yangtze River Basin. The proven reserves account for 15 percent of the country’s total and more than 50 percent of the phosphate in Hubei province. Yichang has used these rich resources to help its refined phosphorus chemical industries move into new energy materials. CATL, a world-leading new energy solution and service provider based in Fujian province, has invested 32 billion yuan (US$4.55 billion) in a new energy project in Yichang. Other leading companies that have done the same are Shandong Haike Group (10.5 billion yuan) and Guangzhou Tinci Materials Technology (10 billion yuan).
With fine chemicals now making up more than 36 percent of chemicals output here, the profits of Yichang’s chemical industry have increased by more than 10 percent each year for the last two years.
Preferential policies
Yichang welcomes companies that help drive the growth of wider industries, said Wang Li, the Yichang Municipal Committee secretary of the Communist Party of China. Having an advanced phosphate chemical industry alongside new energy technology companies, such as CATL, has enabled the city’s chemical industry to move into the new energy and new materials sector, boosting the city’s presence in high-end manufacturing.
Moving forward, Yichang will continue to sing its charms to leading companies in the fields of green chemicals, advanced equipment manufacturing, clean energy, next-generation information technology and other emerging industries. The city wants to see more medium- and large-scale projects of these kinds in Yichang.
Young, dynamic population
According to China's seventh population census, Yichang was the only city in Hubei province with a net population inflow, apart from the provincial capital Wuhan. The fact that young people are coming to the city to settle down is strong evidence of the city’s charm and attractiveness.
