Business and commerce in North China's Shanxi province has grown exponentially over the last decade, with major business indicators improving vastly since 2012. 

The number of the province's development zones increased from 25 in 2012 to 93 currently, of which 71 are industrial development zones, 14 are modern agricultural demonstration zones, and eight are ecological cultural tourism demonstration zones.

Last year, 69 industrial development zones were home to 29 percent of the province's industrial enterprises above a designated size – those with annual revenue of 20 million yuan ($2.77 million) or more – and 57 percent of its high-tech enterprises. They contributed 32 percent to the province's industrial added value, 26 percent to fixed asset investment and 52 percent to industrial investment.

Furthermore, foreign capital has continued to expand in Shanxi. By the end of 2021, the province had utilized $8.17 billion of foreign capital, and foreign businesspeople from 48 countries and regions had invested in Shanxi, attracting 103 investment projects from Fortune Global 500 enterprises.

A series of measures for opening-up have been implemented, bringing the local open economy to a much higher level.

The value of foreign trade rose from 94.89 billion yuan in 2012 to 223.03 billion yuan in 2021. The trade structure has been continuously optimized. In particular, the proportion of the imports and exports of high-tech products in total foreign trade value increased from 22.1 percent in 2012 to 64.6 percent in 2021. 

By the end of 2021, Shanxi had established 262 overseas investment enterprises, an increase of 73.5 percent over 2012, and the accumulated investment overseas was $2.43 billion, up 129 percent on 2012. In 2021, the newly signed contract value of foreign contracted projects was $2.92 billion, an increase of 357 percent on 2012.

Breakthroughs in the construction of open platforms have been made. Shanxi has put Taiyuan and Datong cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot areas into operation. The cities of Taiyuan, Datong, Jincheng and Linfen have obtained qualifications as cross-border e-commerce retail import pilot areas. Moreover, there have been eight national foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases in the province. 

The China-Europe (Central Asia) freight trains have realized normal operations and the four airports in Taiyuan, Yuncheng, Datong and Wutaishan county have been opened.

The province's commerce and trade circulation has grown steadily and total retail sales increased from 406.05 billion yuan in 2012 to 774.73 billion yuan in 2021, with an average annual growth of 7.44 percent.

New forms of consumption have emerged. Since 2012, the average annual growth of e-commerce transactions has been 45.7 percent. In 2021, the province's online retail sales amounted to 87.21 billion yuan.

The province has had 59 national comprehensive demonstration counties of e-commerce in rural areas. It has cultivated and built 100 rural e-towns and promoted the pilot construction of a county-level commercial system in 15 counties.

Some 32 characteristic commercial streets have been developed in the province, and four have been recognized as national nighttime culture and tourism consumption clusters.