Shanghai records 5.1% GDP growth in Q1

Shanghai registered 5.1 percent GDP growth in the first quarter of 2025, up 0.1 percentage point year-on-year, the municipal government said on Wednesday.

The first quarter GDP growth was also 0.1 percentage point higher than the whole-year growth of 2024. The industries of information transmission, software and information technology, as well as finance have contributed over 60 percent to Shanghai's GDP growth.

Trading value at the Shanghai Stock Exchange rose 39.3 percent in the first quarter while that totaled at the Shanghai Futures Exchange increased 40.4 percent from a year earlier. Shanghai Gold Exchange saw its first quarter trading value soar by 42.2 percent on a yearly basis.

While information service industry saw its added value rise by 13 percent year-on-year over the first three months, its profit shot up by 94.6 percent, which can be largely attributed to the rapid development of Shanghai-based internet companies such as discount e-retailer Pinduoduo and social media platform Xiaohongshu, said the municipal government.

The three emerging industries — integrated circuit, artificial intelligence and biomedicine — have served as major economic drivers of the city, with their combined industrial output jumping 7.2 percent during the first quarter. The three industries saw their added value rise by 8.9 percent, 13.2 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively, in the first three months of the year.

During the same period, strategic emerging industries such as new-generation information technology, high-end equipment, and industrial robots all achieved double-digit growth in terms of added value.

It should be noted that the city's total export value gained 12.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, with exports in machine tools, containers, pharmaceuticals, medicines and laptops reporting double-digit growth, respectively. Private companies accounted for 44.8 percent of the city's exports, while the exports value increased 26 percent year-on-year.

Shanghai's trade with emerging markets remained vibrant in the first quarter. Its exports to India jumped 54.8 percent year-on-year, while those to Russia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were up by 28.6 percent and 24.7 percent, respectively.

Industrial companies with their respective annual sales revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.7 million) saw their added value up by 3.7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, 1.5 percentage point higher than the whole-year figure of 2024. Privately-owned industrial companies with a minimum 20 million yuan sales income respectively saw their industrial output rose by 5.3 percent from a year earlier.

Recovery signs can also be seen in the property sector. The transaction area of newly built commercial housing in Shanghai jumped 10.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, while that for second-hand housing surged 51 percent. About 27,000 second-hand apartments were sold in March, a new high since the same period of 2021.

Unemployment rate remained at 4.2 percent. While urban residents saw their disposable income up by 4.5 percent in the first quarter, rural residents witnessed 5.9 percent increase under the same gauge.

Shanghai received over 1.74 million inbound tourists in the first quarter, up 37.1 percent year-on-year. The number of travelers received by the city's two airports also rose by 7.7 percent on a yearly basis.