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With a planned area of 65 square kilometers, the Pinghu Economic Development Zone is located in the northwestern corner of Pinghu city, only 3 km from downtown Pinghu. It was established in 1996 and was upgraded as a State-level development zone under the approval of the State Council in 2013.

The economic zone has attracted more than 1,000 enterprises from 30 countries and regions, including those from Japan, Germany, South Korea, Spain, the United States, Sweden, Italy and France, with total investment around $4.5 billion. More than 300 are foreign-founded businesses, and 25 are listed Fortune 500 Investment Enterprises.

Two industrial parks have been built in the zone: the Sino-Japan Pinghu industrial park and the European (German) industrial park.

The Sino-Japan Pinghu industrial park hosts many Japanese enterprises, including Morinaga, Nissin Foods, SSK Food, Mitsubishi Chemical Food, Inabata Perfume, Nisshin Steel, JFE, Nidec, Tsugami, Okaya, Sinto and Kanto Tatsumi.

The smart manufacturing industry and the biotechnology (food) industry have become two pillar industries of Pinghu city.

In the first half of 2018, the 200 enterprises above designated size in the zone achieved a total industrial output of 21.48 billion yuan ($3.12 billion), increasing by 14.1 percent year-on-year. The industrial output of 90 foreign-funded businesses reached 15.97 billion yuan, contributing 74.3 percent to the total amount. The number of enterprises in the zone with an annual output of more than 100 million yuan has risen to 42 and generated 16.23 billion yuan in the last six months.