Wenzhou exports food, tea, wine, jute, timber, paper, Alunite (a non-metallic mineral used to make alum and fertilizer). Alunite is quite abundant here and sometimes Wenzhou claims to be the "Alunite Capital of the World". Its 10 main industries each exceeding 1.5 billion dollars are electrical machinery, leather products, general equipment, power supply, plastic manufacturing, textile and garment, transport equipment, chemical products, metal products and metal processing.
From the 1990s, low-voltage electric appliances manufacturing became one of the major industries in Wenzhou, with some of the large private enterprises setting up joint ventures with GE and Schneider.
IN 1994, exploration for oil and natural gas commenced in the East China Sea 100 km off the coast of Wenzhou. Companies such as Texaco, Chevron, Shell and JAPEX have started to drill for oil but the operations have been largely unsuccessful.
Wenzhou is a city full of vibrant business activities. When China began economic reforms in 1978, Wenzhou was the first city to set up individual and private enterprises as well as a shareholding cooperative economy in China. It has also taken the lead in carrying out financial system reform and structural reform in townships. Being a pioneer in utilising marketing mechanism to develop urban constructions, Wenzhou has won a number of firsts in China and set many national records.
From 1978 through 2009, the GDP of the city has increased from 1.32 billion RMB to 252.8 billion RMB with the gross fiscal revenue increasing from 0.135 billion RMB to 36.1 billion RMB, and the net per capita income for rural residents increasing from 113.5 RMB to 10,100 RMB. The per capita disposable income for urban residents increased from 422.6 RMB in 1981 to 28,021 RMB in 2009, which is the third highest among Chinese cities, after Dongguan and Shenzhen.
GDP of the city in 2011 reached 335.087 billion RMB, a YOY growth of 9.5%。 Per capita GDP
