China's biggest state company and the symbol of Han Chinese control of Xinjiang announced even better results than the region itself.
The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, known in Chinese as the Bingtuan (army group), reported 2009 GDP of 60 billion yuan, up 13 per cent from a year earlier.
It is one of the pillars of the regional economy. In 2009, it produced 9.3 million tonnes of coal, up 15 per cent, 12.5 million tonnes of cement, up 14 per cent and 1.1 million tonnes of tomato goods. It operated 2.25 million cotton textile spindles.
Founded in 1954 as an organisation of paramilitary settlers to consolidate control of Xinjiang and develop its economy, it has 2.6 million members and controls 74,300 square kilometres of land, including giant state farms, coal mines, factories and towns and cities which it has created.
In 2009, its output of cotton was 1.12 million tonnes, down from 2008, while grain production rose 48 per cent to 2.1 million tonnes, meat products output was up 23 per cent to 270,000 tonnes and fruit up 41 per cent to one million tonnes.
The average rural income of Bingtuan members rose 8 per cent to 7,300 yuan and average urban income rose 10 per cent to 13,000 yuan - substantially higher than the averages for Xinjiang as a whole.