"Business has been good last year as we have been getting steady orders from overseas clients," said Ren Lianggang, general manager of the Ningbo-based P&T Medical Equipment Co Ltd, a leading manufacturer and exporter of medical products like automatic and ultrasonic sterilizers. 

He, however, said that the key was to keep the business going on a steady basis. "It is a tough task as we have to maintain the competitiveness of the products in a rapidly changing global business environment." Retrenchment of employees by some export-orientated manufacturing units due to dwindling orders are also posing concerns for Ren and other firms.

"The competitiveness of some factories comes from cheap labor. We are not too perturbed as our products cannot be easily replicated by others. I think we should be fine," he said.

Ren's optimism also hinges from the fact that Ningbo became the 15th Chinese city to have a GDP of over 1 trillion yuan ($147 billion) for last year, making it the second city in the club from Zhejiang province. 

But Ningbo is not content to rest on its laurels and looking to up the ante. The export-oriented city, which has been upgrading its manufacturing sector and enhancing its competitiveness, has identified the biopharmaceutical industry as its next sunrise sector.

"We will focus on using the existing facilities to develop the medical equipment manufacturing industry," said a spokesman of the Ningbo Municipal Economic and Information Technology Committee. "We will also rely on our strengths in chemical engineering to develop the chemical materials and medicine production businesses."