Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, is an important city in the Northeast China industrial base - the most important and prosperous industrial base in China before the 1990s. There were 156 programs in China's First Five-Year Plan (1953-57), 13 of which were located in Harbin, laying a solid foundation for Harbin's industrial structure - large and medium-sized State-owned companies as the main part, and heavy industry as the development priority.
 
The industrial structure in Harbin has been transformed and upgraded through the years. It boasts a diversified industrial base. It’s now building a "4 + 4" modern industrial system, with green agricultural product deep processing, advanced equipment manufacturing, as well as a modern biomedicines and tourism industry as its pillar industries, -- and with information, new materials, finance and modern logistics as its rapidly developing sectors.
 
Harbin’s GDP reached 630.05 billion yuan ($91.43 billion) in 2018, an increase of 5.1 percent year-on-year. The added value of the primary industry totaled 52.55 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.1 percent; the added value of the secondary industry was 168.93 billion yuan, an increase of 2.7 percent; and the added value of the tertiary industry was 408.57 billion yuan, an increase of 7.5 percent.
 
The proportion of Harbin’s industrial structure was adjusted from 9.5: 29.1: 61.4 in the previous year to 8.3: 26.8: 64.9.
 
The total value of imports and exports for the whole year was 20.97 billion yuan, a decrease of 8.0 percent over the previous year. Of this, exports totaled 10.35 billion yuan, an increase of 5.2 percent and imports were 10.62 billion yuan, a decrease of 18.0 percent.   
 
With regards to commodity categories, imports and exports of agricultural products totaled 6.33 billion yuan, a decrease of 11.1 percent; imports and exports of mechanical and electrical products was 8.82 billion yuan, a decrease of 12.5 percent; and imports and exports of high-tech products was 2.24 billion yuan, a decrease of 31.9 percent.
 
Russia is the largest trade partner of Harbin due to the close proximity of Harbin, lying in China’s northernmost Heilongjiang province — at the border of China and Russia.