Zhoushan's gross domestic product (GDP) rises 10.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, ranking first in Zhejiang province. [Photo/WeChat account: china-zjftz] 

Zhoushan's gross domestic product (GDP) rose 10.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, ranking first in Zhejiang province. The reason for the recession-defying growth comes down to a combination of factors such as economic structure and institutional reforms.

Marine economy and harbor industry are two major drivers of economic growth in Zhoushan. The industry practice of not halting work during the Spring Festival meant many enterprises had sufficient manpower after the outbreak, mitigating the epidemic's impact. 

The green petrochemical base situated in Yushan Island, Daishan county, has not suspended production amid the epidemic. 

The base has a monthly industrial output value of five billion yuan ($724.6 million). Its output accounted for nearly half of Zhoushan's industrial output in the first quarter, according to Zhang Rong, chief statistician at the Zhoushan Municipal Bureau of Statistics. 

The base's contribution is expected to rise further as its annual capacity will rise to 20 million tons by the year-end.

The crude oil required by the production of the green petrochemical base has also driven the rapid growth of Zhoushan's foreign trade and cargo throughput from January to March. 

The city imported 15.59-billion-yuan-worth of oil products over the three-month period, 2.9 times more than the previous year. Its oil and gas throughput increased by 52.9 percent. 

Yu Donglai, secretary of the CPC Zhoushan Municipal Committee, said that the petrochemical has overtaken shipbuilding to be the biggest industry in Zhoushan.

Meanwhile, the city has also been reaping dividends from reform policies. 

To date, Zhejiang FTZ in Zhoushan has made 116 institutional reforms, among which 52 were the first of their kind in the nation.

Thanks to these reforms, the customs clearance time required for ships has been reduced from 16 hours to two hours, and the number of items declared by enterprises has been slashed from 1,113 to 338, a decrease of 69.6 percent. The zone has built China's first paperless port for customs clearance, according to Zhang Jie, head of the Zhoushan Municipal Bureau of commerce.

Over the past three years, more than 6,000 oil and gas enterprises have set up operations in the zone, with the total trade volume of oil, gas and other bulk commodities exceeding 100 billion yuan.