In 2020, the added value of the tertiary industry in Shanghai in East China increased by 1.8 percent over the previous year, accounting for 73.1 percent of the city's GDP. The services economy reportedly enjoyed steady development and emerging service industries – such as information services, business services and professional services – grew rapidly.

Shanghai's consumption, investment and export demand grew steadily in 2020. Total retail sales of consumer goods grew by 0.5 percent, cosmetics by 21.9 percent and daily necessities by 18.2 percent that year.

During the period, investment in fixed assets in Shanghai increased by 10.3 percent, with industrial investment growing by 15.9 percent – driven by major new projects in automobiles, biomedicines, complete equipment, electronics information and in other fields. The structure of imports and exports further improved during 2020.

Exports of general trade remained the same as the previous year, while the share of exports of State-owned enterprises and private enterprises increased, reaching 11.2 percent and 27.0 percent respectively. Exports of new and high-tech products continued to grow steadily.

In terms of ownership structure, in 2020 the added value of the non-public sector reached 2.12 trillion yuan ($329.31 billion), an increase of 2 percent over the previous year, accounting for 54.8 percent of the city's GDP.