Ministry of Commerce: Fully unleash the potential of commodity consumption to allow “real money” to reach consumers directly

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on March 25, the Ministry of Commerce held a special press conference. Mr. Li Gang, Director of the Department of Consumer Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce, Mr. Zhang Xiang, first-level inspector of the Distribution Development Department, Mr. Li Weizheng, Deputy Director of the Department of Market Development, Mr. Wang Bo, Deputy Director of the Department of Services and Trade, and Mr. Wang Pengfei, Deputy Director of the Department of Electronic Commerce, introduced policies related to expanding consumption and answered questions from reporters. Li Gang, director of the Department of Consumption Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce, said that commodity consumption is large-scale and has a strong driving force. The next step is to hold on to the “bull's nose” of commodity consumption and stabilize the basic consumption market. Implement policies closely, closely follow up and supervise, optimize convenience services, step up publicity and promotion efforts, and make “real money” more efficient and convenient directly to consumers.

Since this year, the Ministry of Commerce, together with various regions and relevant departments, has stepped up efforts to expand the implementation of trade-in of consumer goods. The support capital has increased from 150 billion yuan last year to 300 billion yuan. The support categories and scope of subsidies have been further expanded, and the results of the policy are gradually showing. As of March 24, the total number of automobile trade-in applications nationwide has exceeded 1.5 million; consumers have purchased more than 28 million units of 12 categories of home appliances for trade-in products, more than 45 million consumers have applied for subsidies for the purchase of more than 56 million digital products such as mobile phones, and more than 2.2 million electric bicycles have been traded in.

Li Gang said that every link in the automobile purchase and use chain contains huge consumption potential, and will carry out pilot automobile distribution and consumption reforms to comprehensively stimulate the vitality of the automobile consumer market.

He pointed out that various forms of organization of consumption promotion activities will also be strengthened. In the first quarter, events such as National Consumption Promotion Month, boutique launch season, time-honored brand carnivals, and online New Year's Festival were successfully held to promote a number of trendy domestic products and New Year's goods. In April, the “Ten Cities Collaborate to Share Food and Drink” campaign will be launched.

In addition to this, it will also develop “artificial intelligence+consumption” to guide the promotion of artificial intelligence products; promote “IP+ consumption” to encourage consumption of animation, games, e-sports, and peripheral derivatives; and work with relevant departments to develop low-altitude consumption such as consumer-grade drones in an orderly manner.

The transcript is as follows:

[He Yadong]: Good afternoon, all reporters and friends. Welcome to the Ministry of Commerce's special press conference.

In order to help everyone better understand the policy situation related to expanding consumption. Today, we are very happy to invite Mr. Li Gang, Director of the Consumer Promotion Department of the Ministry of Commerce; Mr. Zhang Xiang, first-level inspector of the Distribution and Development Department; Mr. Li Weizheng, Deputy Director of the Marketing Development Department; Mr. Wang Bo, Deputy Director of the Department of Trade and Services; and Mr. Wang Pengfei, Deputy Director of the Department of Electronic Commerce. We invited them to brief everyone on the relevant situation and answer questions of concern. Next, let's first ask Director Li Gang for an introduction.

[Li Gang]: Thank you, host! Hello to all our fellow journalists! Thank you for your attention and support for business work, and I am very happy to talk with you about expanding consumption.

The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to expanding consumption. The Central Economic Work Conference listed vigorously boosting consumption and expanding domestic demand in all aspects as the top of the nine key tasks this year. The government work report also made specific arrangements. The General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council recently issued the “Special Action Plan to Boost Consumption”, which requires departments in all regions to strengthen coordination and coordination to speed up the formation of joint efforts. In order to implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council and jointly promote special actions to boost consumption, the Ministry of Commerce will carry out four areas of work to expand consumption.

The first is to upgrade product consumption and stabilize the consumer market. The main problem with commodity consumption is weak consumption capacity and willingness to spend, and effective demand is constrained. We will focus on the demand side and focus on exploring product update and upgrade needs. For example, with the trade-in of consumer goods that everyone is familiar with, we are expanding the scope of subsidies, increasing subsidies, and optimizing service measures in accordance with the central government's deployment and based on last year's policy, so as to make better use of the policy's effectiveness. From January to February, retail sales of communication equipment, cultural office supplies, furniture, and home appliances in units above the limit increased by 26.2%, 21.8%, 11.7%, and 10.9%, respectively. We will also accelerate the integration of domestic and foreign trade, promote the consumption of high-quality products in foreign trade; adapt to the development trend of consumption and cultivate growth points for domestic “trendy” consumption; and carry out pilot automobile distribution and consumption reforms to expand automobile aftermarket consumption.

The second is to expand service consumption and explore the increase in consumption. Service consumption is growing rapidly and has huge potential, but there are shortfalls in supply in some fields. In particular, high-quality supply is insufficient in the fields of “one old, one small” and domestic service. We will focus on increasing the supply of quality services to better meet residents' service consumption needs. Implement actions to improve the quality of service consumption and benefit the people, and organize and carry out a series of consumer promotion activities such as “Service Consumption Season” and “Chinese Food Fair” around key areas of service consumption that are close to people's lives, have high demand potential, and have a strong driving effect, such as catering, housekeeping, pension, cultural tourism, and sports. We will also strengthen capacity building for service consumption and supply, introduce and cultivate more high-quality services through “opening up to the outside world and liberalizing from within”, and strive to enhance the momentum of service consumption development through reform, openness, and innovation.

The third is to cultivate new types of consumption and enhance consumption momentum. Since the Spring Festival this year, humanoid robots, “Nezha 2,” etc. have continued to be popular, fully demonstrating the surging vitality of new types of consumption. We will actively promote the launch economy, cultivate a number of influential launch platform carriers; develop digital consumption, unleash digital consumption potential through initiatives such as improving the development environment, deepening digital consumption promotion actions, and cultivating quality e-commerce; cultivate “artificial intelligence+ consumption” to promote artificial intelligence consumer terminals into thousands of households and artificial intelligence commercial terminals into thousands of stores; promote “IP+ consumption”, smooth the entire IP licensing, product development, marketing and promotion chain; develop new types of consumption such as green and healthy consumption, cultivate new consumption hotspots into new growth points, and continuously enhance consumption development momentum.

Fourth, innovate consumption scenarios to stimulate consumption vitality. Currently, residents are paying more and more attention to the sense of consumption experience, and innovating diversified consumption scenarios has become an important gripper for boosting consumption and improving residents' quality of life. We will actively enhance carriers, create an atmosphere, optimize the environment, and promote innovation in consumption scenarios and the release of demand potential. Here, I'll focus on two jobs. The first is to launch the “Buy in China” series of activities. We will focus on new consumption growth points such as green, intelligence, health, cultural tourism, etc., and organize and carry out a series of activities to promote the deep integration of business, culture, sports and fitness, and stimulate consumption vitality. The second item is to improve the effectiveness of the departure tax refund policy. Together with relevant departments, we will introduce targeted policies and measures to increase the number of tax refund stores, optimize tax refund services, facilitate overseas travelers to shop in China, and expand inbound spending.

In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will actively work with relevant departments to speed up the implementation of various policies and measures to expand consumption, guide all regions to combine actual innovative work initiatives to form joint efforts to expand consumption, and make positive contributions to the continued recovery and improvement of the economy. Reporters and friends are also invited to pay more attention and provide more valuable opinions.

I'll introduce these first, thank you!

[He Yadong]: Thank you, Director Li Gang, for the introduction. Let's move on to the questioning session. Please inform your news agency before asking questions. Please ask questions below.

[Xinhua News Agency Reporter]: I would like to ask Director Li Gang for a detailed introduction to the characteristics of the consumer market since this year, and how do you view subsequent consumer market trends?

[Li Gang]: Thank you for your question. Since this year, commercial authorities at all levels have earnestly implemented the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, stepped up efforts to expand and implement trade-in of consumer goods, expand service consumption, innovate consumption scenarios, continue to unleash consumption potential, and the consumer market has grown steadily. It mainly presents the following characteristics:

First, the upward trend is steady. From January to February, total retail sales of consumer goods were 8.37 trillion yuan, up 4.0% year on year. The growth rate was 0.5 percentage points faster than the full year of the previous year, and 0.3 percentage points faster than December last year. Among them, retail sales of goods increased by 3.9% year on year, and the growth rate was 0.7 percentage points faster than the full year of the previous year. Of the 16 categories of products above the limit, retail sales of 14 categories of products achieved positive growth, and the year-on-year retail sales growth rate of 11 categories of products changed from negative to positive or accelerated compared to the full year of the previous year. Food and beverage revenue increased 4.3% year over year, 1.6 percentage points faster than in December of the previous year.

Second, the market is very popular. Driven by holiday effects such as New Year's Day and Spring Festival, consumption of services such as tourism and entertainment continues to be active. During the Spring Festival holiday, the total travel expenses of domestic tourists increased by 7.0% year-on-year, and the popularity of snow and ice tours, cultural and expo tours, and inbound tours continued unabated; the box office of Spring Festival movies reached 9.51 billion yuan, a record high in the Spring Festival box office in previous years, and a number of high-quality domestic films were praised and praised. Physical retail enterprises accelerate digital transformation, innovate and enrich consumption scenarios, and continuously improve the consumer experience. From January to February, retail sales of warehousing member stores maintained double-digit growth among units above the limit. Retail sales of convenience stores, specialty stores, and supermarkets increased 9.8%, 5.4%, and 4.0% year-on-year, respectively.

Third, there is enough momentum for development. Service consumption continues to expand, and new types of consumption such as digital, green, and smart are developing rapidly, providing strong support for the consumer market to continue to improve. From January to February, the country's retail sales of services increased 4.9% year on year, 1.0 percentage point faster than retail sales of goods. Online retail sales increased 7.3% year over year, with online retail sales of physical goods increasing 5.0%. According to data from the Automobile Dealers Association, retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles increased 35.5% year-on-year in January-February, and the penetration rate of new energy vehicles was about 45%. Retail sales of sports and entertainment products and communication equipment in units above the limit increased by 25.0% and 26.2%, respectively, over the same period last year.

Looking at the later stages, China's consumer market is resilient, has great potential, and sufficient vitality, and the basic trend of upward recovery has not changed. As various policies and measures to expand consumption continue to gain strength and the “Buy in China” series of activities are carried out in an orderly manner, the overall consumer market will continue to show a steady development trend this year.

[Daily Economic News Reporter]: The “Report on the Work of the Government” proposes to expand the consumption supply of diversified services. What specific measures are being taken to promote the consumption of services?

[Wang Bo]: Thank you for your question. The Central Economic Work Conference made general arrangements for expanding service consumption, and the “Report on the Work of the Government” also clarified key tasks for service consumption. We resolutely implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, speed up the improvement of the “1+N” policy and measure system for service consumption, carry out activities to promote service consumption, increase the supply of quality services, and promote the expansion of service consumption. From January to February of this year, the service consumer market developed steadily. Retail sales of services increased 4.9% year on year, and retail sales of travel services and travel services achieved double-digit year-on-year growth. In the next step, we will promote the high-quality development of service consumption, innovate diversified service consumption scenarios, and cultivate new growth points for service consumption.

First, implement actions to improve the quality of service consumption and benefit the people. Service consumption is an important gripper for consumption expansion and upgrading, and it is also an important support for improving people's livelihood. Starting this year, we will take the lead in implementing actions to improve the quality of service consumption and benefit the people. Focusing on key areas of service consumption such as culture, tourism, old-age care, health, sports, and lifestyle services, we will put forward a number of practical measures in terms of supporting policies, promotion activities, platform carriers, opening up to the outside world, leading standards, and developing the environment, making full use of departmental efforts to effectively improve service quality, improve the consumer experience, and continuously enhance people's sense of attainment.

Second, strengthen capacity building for service supply. In response to insufficient supply of high-quality services and service quality issues that the public is concerned about, we will focus on optimizing service supply by focusing on “opening up to the outside world and liberalizing internally”. On the one hand, promote a comprehensive pilot demonstration of expanding and opening up the service industry, promote orderly opening up of the Internet, culture, etc., and expand pilot opening up in the fields of telecommunications, medical care, education, etc. On the other hand, promote reform, opening-up and innovation in the service consumption sector, and expand the supply of diversified services such as health, old-age care, childcare, and housekeeping, starting with easing access, reducing restrictions, and optimizing supervision. Launch lifestyle service recruitment season activities, implement activities to upgrade domestic servants' skills, and improve the quality of domestic service. Encourage local communities to cultivate famous dishes, famous snacks, famous chefs, and famous stores, expand the food segmentation circuit, introduce the first and flagship stores of famous food brands, and increase the supply of high-quality food.

Third, create hotspots for service consumption. We will launch activities such as “Service Consumption Season”, “Chinese Food Club”, “Follow the Movie and Taste Food”, and “Follow the Competition to Taste Food” to guide local communities to combine their strengths to carry out sustainable, influential, wide-ranging, and distinctive service consumption promotion activities to unleash service consumption potential. For example, at the beginning of this year, we and the National Film Administration launched the “Follow the Movie to Taste Food” campaign, which achieved great results. Last week, we also launched events such as the “Chinese Food Fair” and “Follow the Competition to Taste Food”. We will combine the development of such consumer promotion activities to promote the integration of business formats and enhance the vitality of service consumption. Furthermore, we will work with relevant departments to implement an action plan to increase the opening of Yinfa tourist trains, promote the integrated development of railways and tourism, and better meet the travel service needs of the Yinfa community.

[Shanghai Securities News Reporter]: In recent years, new types of consumption have developed rapidly and become a new consumption growth point. How will the Ministry of Commerce promote the development of digital consumption and stimulate consumption potential next?

[Wang Pengfei]: Thank you for your question. Digital consumption is an important part of new types of consumption, and plays an important role in promoting consumption upgrading, expanding effective investment, and promoting industrial innovation. In 2024, we will launch digital consumption promotion actions to promote innovation and development in various fields such as digital products, digital services, digital content, and digital channels. Digital consumption scenarios characterized by new services, new experiences, and new trends, such as the low-altitude economy and driverless driving, are rapidly emerging, injecting new momentum into expanding domestic demand and boosting consumption. In the next step, we will focus on implementing the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and carry out four areas of work.

The first is policy-driven. We will strengthen policy research related to digital consumption, deepen special promotion actions, focus on the four aspects of digital products and services, content and channels, and guide all regions to launch practical measures to enrich the diversified supply of digital consumption through industry promotion, benchmarking, and technological innovation, etc., to enhance the endogenous vitality and innovation vitality of digital consumption.

The second is activity leadership. We will follow up the National Online New Year Festival at the beginning of the year and continue to embed digital consumer themes in events such as the Double Product Online Shopping Festival, Digital Commerce Xing Nongqing Harvest, and the Silk Road Cloud Product E-commerce Festival to push platform merchants to launch more digital products and services with high technology content and high added value. Promote the quality and efficiency of activities and lead new trends in digital consumption through new growth points in digital consumption.

The third is scene innovation. We will strengthen the cultivation of innovative digital consumption scenarios and give full play to the leading role of advanced regions and outstanding enterprises. Explore online and offline linked consumption models, accelerate the integrated application of new technologies such as AI models and virtual reality, and create more immersive, experiential, and diversified consumption scenarios.

Fourth, quality empowerment. We will adapt to the trend of consumption upgrading and promote the quality development of digital consumption. Collaborate with relevant departments, localities and platforms to carry out thematic actions to achieve supply-side optimization of digital consumption and improvement of service levels through guidance and regulation to better meet the personalized and diverse consumer needs of consumers. This is also one of our key tasks this year. Journalists and friends are welcome to continue to pay attention.

[Fujian Southeast TV Reporter]: I would like to ask Director Li Gang. You just mentioned that the Ministry of Commerce should promote the upgrading of product consumption. So what next steps will be taken to push the policy to achieve greater results?

[Li Gang]: Thank you for your question. The scale of commodity consumption is large and the driving force is strong. To stabilize the basic consumption market, we must first hold on to the “bull's nose” of commodity consumption. In the next step, we will focus on doing the following tasks to unleash the potential for product consumption.

First, step up the expansion and implementation of trade-in of consumer goods. Since this year, the Ministry of Commerce has thoroughly implemented the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council. Together with various regions and relevant departments, the Ministry of Commerce has stepped up efforts to expand the implementation of consumer goods trade-in. Support funding has been drastically increased from 150 billion yuan last year to 300 billion yuan. The scope of support categories and subsidies has been further expanded, and the results of the policy are gradually showing. As of March 24, the total number of automobile trade-in applications nationwide has exceeded 1.5 million; consumers have purchased more than 28 million units of 12 categories of home appliances, more than 45 million consumers have applied for purchase subsidies for more than 56 million digital products such as mobile phones, and more than 2.2 million electric bicycles have been exchanged. We will make good efforts to implement policies, closely follow up and supervise, optimize convenience services, clear the recycling chain, step up publicity and promotion efforts, and make “real money” more efficient and convenient directly to consumers.

Second, launch a pilot reform of automobile distribution and consumption. Every link in the automobile purchase and use chain contains huge consumption potential. In 2024, retail sales of automobiles, petroleum and manufactured products in China accounted for more than 15% of the total share of the society, making them the “backbone” of the consumer market. At the beginning of this year, 8 departments including the Ministry of Commerce issued the “Notice on Launching Pilot Work on Automobile Distribution and Consumption Reform” to encourage places in a position to do so to deepen reforms, actively innovate, and try first to play a leading and driving role around the five aspects of stabilizing and expanding automobile consumption, promoting the efficient circulation of used cars, creating an automobile culture atmosphere, improving the recycling system for end-of-life vehicles, and raising the digital level of automobile distribution consumption. Currently, we are guiding local commercial authorities to work with relevant departments to carry out pilot application work in an orderly manner and step up the preparation of pilot work plans. In the future, we will study and determine the list of pilot cities in batches in accordance with the principle of “maturing one batch, starting one batch” to ensure that the pilot work progresses steadily, achieves effective results, and comprehensively stimulates the vitality of the automobile consumer market.

Third, organize various forms of consumption promotion activities. I have just introduced that this year we will focus on building a “Buy in China” campaign brand to create a strong consumer atmosphere by hosting various types of events. In the first quarter, we successfully held events such as National Consumption Promotion Month, boutique launch season, time-honored brand carnivals, and online New Year's Festival to promote a number of trendy domestic products and New Year's goods. In April, we will launch the “Ten Cities Collaborate to Share Food and Drink” campaign. Journalists and friends are welcome to continue to pay attention. In addition to this, we will also develop “artificial intelligence+consumption” to guide the promotion of artificial intelligence products; promote “IP+ consumption”, encourage consumption of animation, games, e-sports, and peripheral derivatives; and work with relevant departments to develop low-altitude consumption such as consumer-grade drones in an orderly manner.

[Securities Times Reporter]: In my introduction to the work related to expanding consumption, I mentioned the need to promote the consumption of high-quality products in foreign trade. I would like to ask what the Ministry of Commerce will do next in this regard?

[Li Weizheng]: Thank you for your question. China's foreign trade products are not only very popular with international consumers, but also meet domestic demand for quality and diversified consumption. Generating consumer demand through the supply of high-quality foreign trade goods is an important aspect of expanding domestic consumption. This year, we will use the Foreign Trade Premium China Tour as a symbol to expand foreign trade consumption. The main content is “1+10+N”, which is to hold a launch ceremony, play the role of 10 major economic provinces, and organize and carry out a series of key activities to help stabilize foreign trade and expand consumption. The focus is on four areas of work.

The first is to clear domestic sales channels for high-quality foreign trade products. Build a platform for foreign trade enterprises to expand domestic sales. For example, through offline channels, carry out various forms of display, exhibition, and matchmaking negotiations in key pedestrian streets and business districts, and set up foreign trade premium exhibition areas at important exhibitions; through online channels, set up special zones on major e-commerce platforms to promote channel connection, production and marketing connection, so that consumers can buy more conveniently.

The second is to increase support for the consumption of high-quality products in foreign trade. At present, various departments and regions have introduced a series of policies and measures to expand consumption. Some have included high-quality foreign trade products in the scope of policy support for trade-in of consumer goods. The next step is to make full use of these support policies and measures. At the same time, we also need to combine the expansion of domestic sales of premium foreign trade products with local consumption promotion activities to fully tap consumption potential.

The third is to cultivate premium foreign trade consumer brands. Map out the domestic sales needs of foreign trade enterprises, establish a list of key foreign trade enterprises and a premium foreign trade product bank, and encourage foreign trade enterprises to develop and produce high-quality products suited to the needs of domestic consumers. Encourage foreign trade enterprises to develop their own brands, actively build “foreign trade premium” IPs, tell good foreign trade stories, expand publicity and promotion, and create a good consumer atmosphere.

Fourth, promote the connection between internal and external standard certification. Work with relevant departments to carry out domestic and foreign trade standard certification bridging surveys, organize domestic and international standards comparison, improve the consistency of domestic and international standards, break through blockages in domestic sales of export products, and reduce the institutional costs of enterprise market transformation. At the same time, cultivate an integrated domestic and foreign trade service platform to provide public services for enterprises to expand domestic sales.

[Economic Daily Reporter]: Urban and rural consumption facilities play an important role in facilitating residents' consumption. What measures will the Ministry of Commerce take to continuously improve the urban and rural circulation system?

[Zhang Xiang]: Thank you for your question. The urban and rural commercial circulation system is an important part of the modern trade circulation system, and plays an important role in promoting consumption and safeguarding people's livelihood. The Ministry of Commerce will thoroughly implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, speed up the construction of urban and rural consumption carriers, improve the urban and rural commerce circulation system, and help boost consumption and expand domestic demand.

In the city, we will implement actions to improve the quality of urban commerce, with the goal of “one hundred streets and one thousand circles”, and construct an urban commercial pattern guided by model pedestrian streets (business districts), supported by characteristic commercial districts, and based on convenient living circles in a quarter of an hour. The first is to promote high-quality development of pedestrian streets and business districts. Guide “one street, one policy” and “one circle, one policy” in various regions to promote the renovation and business format upgrading of existing pedestrian streets and business districts, and support the development of characteristic commercial districts such as characteristic old streets with commercial functions, creative districts remodeled from industrial ruins, and professional districts dominated by core business formats. Carry out a national model pedestrian street (business district) review and a new batch of certifications to create a number of consumption upgrade carriers with strong characteristics, strong popularity, and new business formats and new models. The second is to comprehensively promote the construction of a one-quarter hour convenient living area in the city. Push all cities that are in a position to do so to take action, determine a number of pilot projects for global promotion, and implement full community coverage in the pilot main urban areas and developed counties. At the same time, it focuses on more optimized layout, richer business formats, better service, smarter management, making up shortcomings and improving quality, and creating an upgraded version of a quarter-hour convenient lifestyle. The third is to implement retail innovation and upgrading projects. Implement the “Retail Industry Innovation and Enhancement Project Implementation Plan” issued by 7 departments including the Ministry of Commerce to promote all regions to actively carry out “one store, one policy” scenario-based transformation, develop integrated commerce, fashion commerce, curative commerce, themed commerce, and community-based commerce, and drive innovation in consumption scenarios.

In rural areas, we will continue to improve the county commercial network centered on the county town, focusing on the township, and based on the village. The first is to complete commercial construction activities in the county area. Deepen the construction of the county commercial system, focus on optimizing the county consumption environment, and basically achieve that counties and counties in a position to do so have chain supermarkets and logistics distribution centers, and townships have commercial and trade centers, and village express delivery. The second is to promote the transformation of “ten thousand chapters and ten thousand stores.” Support the upgrading of commercial facilities such as township markets (agricultural) trade markets and trade centers, and promote key brand chains to accelerate the sinking of the county market. Organize and carry out the “New Market, New Service, New Consumption” county commercial consumption promotion campaign, focusing on enriching the supply of products and services in the county area and effectively matching the multi-level consumption needs of rural areas. The third is to promote the high-quality development of e-commerce in rural areas. Guide large-scale e-commerce platform enterprises to sink down, expand rural e-commerce application scenarios, expand the scale of rural logistics joint distribution, cultivate a number of rural e-commerce “leading counties”, county live e-commerce centers, and leading digital distribution enterprises, promote the integration of rural e-commerce with the real economy, and promote farmers' income and rural consumption.

[International Business Daily Reporter]: Five international consumer center cities including Shanghai have now completed three years of construction. I would like to ask Director Li Gang to explain what results this work has achieved in the past three years, and what other promotion measures the Ministry of Commerce has taken next?

[Li Gang]: Thank you for your question. Cultivating and building an international consumer center city is a major decision and arrangement made by the Party Central Committee with a view to constructing a new development pattern. Over the past three years, the Ministry of Commerce, together with the relevant departments, has closely followed the “international community,” focused on “consumption,” highlighted the “center,” and achieved positive results in promoting cultivation and construction, which are characterized by four aspects.

First, the international consumption environment continues to improve. The five cities have taken a multi-pronged approach and introduced facilitation service measures around payment, shopping, transportation needs, etc., to break through inbound consumption blockages. In 2024, the number of foreigners entering the five cities doubled compared to the previous year, accounting for about 30% of the country; the number of departure tax refund stores accounted for about 60% of the country, and departure tax refund sales accounted for more than 70% of the country. A total of 90,000 foreign card POS machines have been installed in Shanghai, and the construction of more than 900 luggage storage service points has been promoted. Beijing supports foreigners to scan the code to reserve and apply for a card before entering the country, and quickly pick up the card offline at an airport service point or telecommunications business office after entering the country. Guangzhou has launched a multi-lingual public service hotline in 9 languages to provide free real-time translation services for foreigners in Sui. Chongqing built the International Friendship City Food Street and the Jiefangbei International Consumer Festival to promote the Jiefangbei-Chaotianmen Business District to be awarded as an inbound consumer-friendly business district.

Second, the global gathering of high-quality consumer resources is accelerating. The five cities are actively introducing high-quality international products and services, strengthening brand cultivation, and promoting the upgrading of consumer quality. Currently, five cities account for nearly one-third of the country's time-honored brands, and imports of consumer goods account for more than half of the country. Shanghai is actively developing the launch economy. Recently, it has just released the “Shanghai Launch 3.0” policy to further optimize the global environment for new product launches and attract well-known domestic and foreign brands to debut. Beijing promotes the integrated development of commodity consumption and service consumption. In 2024, the share of residents' service consumption expenditure reached 58.6%, the highest in the past five years. Tianjin introduced high-quality international medical resources and promoted the launch of the country's first wholly foreign-owned tertiary hospital in Tianjin.

Third, the construction of an iconic business district is beginning to bear fruit. The five cities continue to improve the urban commercial space layout, promote the renovation and upgrading of commercial facilities, and create new highlands for consumption. Shanghai has released an action plan to raise the energy level of the business district. The “One Circle, One Policy” has built iconic business districts such as Nanjing East Road and Huaihai Middle Road. Wukang Road has become a popular place for Chinese and foreign tourists to check in. Guangzhou has built a new consumer landmark at Canton Tower Plaza, driving the “traffic” of China's tallest tower into “retention.” Tianjin promoted the revitalization and utilization of “small mansions”, introduced art curation, cultural creativity and other business formats, and renovated and upgraded the business districts of Wudaidao and Yifeng District.

Fourth, diversified consumption scenarios continue to innovate. The five cities are speeding up the integrated development of business, tourism, culture, sports and health, creating new consumption formats and models, and stimulating new market vitality. Shanghai created iconic events such as the May 5 Shopping Festival, the first launch in Shanghai, and hosted high-level international exhibitions such as the Ancient Egyptian Civilization Exhibition and the F1 China Grand Prix. Beijing promotes the integrated development of diversified consumption and fosters 7 types of consumption scenarios, including neighborhoods, proximity to mountains, water, events, and performing arts. Relying on the city's unique resources, Chongqing has created new consumption scenarios such as the Mountain City Trail, Eye in the Cloud, Cliff Park, and the roof of a building.

In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will thoroughly implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, guide the five cities to better play an exemplary leading role, create international consumption scenarios, enrich high-quality consumption supply, innovate diversified consumption scenarios, and strive to create a model city with prosperous commerce, a thriving market, and people's satisfaction for the Chinese modernization drive.

[He Yadong]: If there are no other questions, that's all for today's press conference. Thank you to all the publishers, and thank you to all the reporters and friends. Thank you all.

This article was selected from the “Ministry of Commerce” official website, Zhitong Finance Editor: Jiang Yuanhua.