Shanxi province has announced the signing of 1,520 investment contracts in the first half of this year, for a total investment of around 1.6 trillion yuan ($245.2 billion), 808 of them signed with private companies, worth 969.6 billion yuan.

Shanxi also approved 12 new foreign-backed companies by the end of June, which the amount of foreign capital actually used at $592 million, while its investment in foreign countries amounted to $161 million.

The consumer goods market also saw positive signs in the first half, with total retail sales growing 6.4 percent, or 0.4 percent higher than the government plan.

Online sales were on the fast track, totaling 1.2 billion yuan, for a year-on-year increase of 96 percent, while vehicle and petroleum product purchases were down a bit.

The province saw $7.3 billion worth of imports and exports in the first 6 months, with an accumulated growth rate putting it in second place among all Chinese provinces.

At the same time, it has seen real development in the circulation of goods and economic structure.