Manufacturing industry agglomeration and spatial clustering: Evidence from Hebei Province, China

Industrial spatial agglomeration is the most prominent geographical feature of economic activities. This paper examined the current situation of manufacturing industry agglomeration in Hebei Province by using the industrial location quotient and exploratory spatial data analysis. The results showed that (1) the industrial location quotient of 11 cities’ 31 manufacturing industries in Hebei Province indicated that there was a significant difference among manufacturing industry agglomeration of the 11 cities in Hebei Province. (2) Global spatial autocorrelation of manufacturing industry agglomeration showed that TA (Manufacture of Textile, Apparel), T (Manufacture of Textile), PFM (Manufacture and Processing of Ferrous Metals), CF (Manufacture of Chemical Fibre), LFF (Manufacture of Leather, Fur, Feather and Its Products and Footwear), AAE (Manufacture of Articles for Culture, Arts and Crafts, Education, Sport Activities and Entertainment Goods) and RP (Manufacture of Rubber and Plastic) showed agglomeration characteristics. (3) According to the industrial location quotient and local spatial autocorrelation, the spatial cluster of manufacturing industry agglomeration in Hebei Province was divided into “Diffusion Centre”, “Primary Diffusion Centre”, “Polarization Centre” and “Less Developed Area”.