上半年长三角城市竞合：盐城GDP超扬州、宁波紧赶南京

Economic Overview - The competition among cities in the Yangtze River Delta remains intense, with Yancheng surpassing Yangzhou in GDP for the first time in five years, achieving a GDP of 3791.5 billion yuan and a growth rate of 5.9% in the first half of the year [3] - The Yangtze River Delta, covering 35.8 million square kilometers, is China's largest economically developed area, with 9 cities having GDPs exceeding 1 trillion yuan, including Shanghai over 5 trillion and Suzhou and Hangzhou over 2 trillion [1] City Comparisons - Ningbo is closing in on Nanjing, with a GDP of 8861 billion yuan in the first half of the year, representing 96.5% of Nanjing's GDP of 9179.2 billion yuan, marking a significant improvement from previous years [5][6] - Nanjing's strength lies in its educational resources and service industry, which accounts for two-thirds of its GDP, while Ningbo's growth is driven by advanced manufacturing and shipping resources [6][8] Industry Development - Yancheng is focusing on major projects in new energy, new materials, and high-end equipment manufacturing, with 34 provincial major projects and over 600 city-level projects planned for investment [3] - Ningbo is developing three trillion-level industrial clusters and six hundred billion-level industrial clusters, ranking fourth among "Top 100 Cities" in advanced manufacturing [6] Economic Growth Trends - Nanjing's GDP growth rate has accelerated, reaching 5.3% in the first quarter and maintaining the same rate in the first half of the year, while Ningbo's growth rate was 5.1% [8] - The external environment poses a risk to Ningbo's growth, as its foreign trade dependency is significantly higher than national and provincial averages, which could affect economic resilience [8]