Incomes in Hebei province's IT industry have increased slightly, in spite of the sluggish domestic and international markets, the provincial Information Industry and Information Association has announced, reaching 44.7 billion yuan ($7.3 billion), for an increase of 1.48 percent year-on-year, in the first half of this year.

Income in the IT manufacturing sector amounted to 37.3 billion yuan, an increasing of 0.5 percent year-on-year, while the software industry collected 7.3 billion yuan, up 6.77 percent compared to the same period last year.

In the first half, the income from flat panel displays reached 5.1 billion yuan, an increasing of 73.38 percent year-on-year, with profits of 192 million yuan, for an increase of 68.78 percent over the same last year period.

Production of the Shijiazhuang Xuxin Electronics Co this year contributed a great deal to income increases in the industry, with Xuxin Electronics giving strength to Hebei's flat display output along with related industrial development.

The IT industry got support from national development policies for communications manufacturing, which has seen steady growth, with incomes reaching 7.5 billion yuan in the first half, an increase of 7.10 percent year-on-year and profits of 609 million yuan, or 2.99 times that of the same last year period.

One Information Industry and Information Association spokesman explained that the majority of electronic information companies face challenges from increasing costs and that the slow economy and inventory and financing costs have risen a large amount as well in the first half. And that the capital problem has not been solved making operations in the province’s electronic information sector more difficult.