In recent years, Laiwu, Shandong Province put an emphasis on transforming economic growth in order to speed up the industrial scale expansion as well as to enhance business operation quality. This boosted the six pillar industries—steel, equipment manufacturing, textile, energy, building materials and agricultural processing—and strengthened the driving force of the city's overall industries and economic development.

During the first quarter of 2010, Laiwu's major industrial business income reached 35.467 billion yuan, up 42.13 percent from the same period of 2009. The increase profit and tax were 2.448 billion yuan, up 237.68 percent. Also, the profit reached 1.567 billion yuan, which shows profitability of the whole city growing month by month.

The steel industry became a major economic growth point in 2010. After a large number of high-end technical transformation projects such as Laiwu Steel Group, Thai Steel Group and Jiu Yang Group reached their targets, the balance of iron, steel and wood were changed. In 2010, steel industry is expected to produce 16.5 million tons, up more than 22 percent since 2009.

The equipment manufacturing industry is developing into clustering. Until recently, four industrial clusters—complete and parts vehicle manufacturing, metal structures manufacturing, electronic information and mine environmental protection machinery—were formed. Among them, more than 20 complete and parts vehicle manufacturing enterprises exist in Laiwu, which can produce 600 or more kinds of auto fittings. Twenty metal structures manufacturing enterprises exist with a combined annual processing capacity of 500,000 tons. There are 30 electronic cable companies and more than 20 mine environmental protection machinery manufacturing enterprises.

This year, the textile capacity reached 650,000. In the first quarter, the added values of textile increased 13.4 percent while the total profit increased 24.31 percent. Yarn production increased 12.1 percent, while cloth production increased 36.4 percent.

The energy industry has broad space for development. Currently, the city has 13 coal enterprises with a total annual output of more than three million tons and 6 power enterprises with an overall installed capacity of 2.16 million kilowatt-hours. An added value growth rate of 18.84 percent was yielded for coal mining and washing in the first quarter, and the total profit increased 88.87 percent since 2009. A power plant in Laiwu is under construction and will greatly enhance the city's energy supply capacity, marking a new era with low consumption and high efficiency in the power industry.

The construction materials industry of the city has seen massive growth. Millions of tons of coal gangue, fly ash and tailings provide a sufficient supply of raw material for the new building materials production every year. In recent years, more than a dozen varieties of new building materials such as interior wall panels, external wall panels and fly ash bricks have developed rapidly. With goals of energy conservation and environmental protection, the "composite three-panel" has reached an annual capacity of 2 million square meters.

In terms of the agricultural and sideline products processing industry, the city now has more than 200 thermostatic storehouses. Agricultural products processing capacity reaches over 800,000 tons with more than 12 enterprises achieving an annual export volume level of 10 million U.S. dollars. The development speed for farm products and food processing has been accelerating, along with an improved deep processing capacity and the increased demand for agricultural products in both the international and domestic markets. In the first quarter of 2010, the added value of agricultural and sideline products processing industry increased 38.23 percent, with profits up 196.02 percent from 2009.