Source: Securities Times
Author: Qin Yanling
On October 12, Ministry of Commerce spokesman He Yadong said at a regular press conference that in the fourth quarter, it will accelerate the implementation of policies and measures to promote consumption of automobiles, homes, and electronic products, and promote high-quality development in the automotive aftermarket, which have recently been introduced, to give better play to the fundamental role of consumption in driving economic growth.
At the same time, He Yadong revealed that since this year, German investment in China has achieved relatively rapid growth. Executives of multinational companies are generally optimistic about China's economic development prospects, are confident in investing in China, and are willing to continue to invest more in China and further cultivate the Chinese market. In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will study the feasibility of further lifting or easing restrictions on foreign stock ratios to attract more global elements into the Chinese market.
The national consumer market is full of popularity and vitality
During the recent Mid-Autumn Festival National Day holiday, the national consumer market continued to recover. According to data from the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Tourism, during the 8-day Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, the number of domestic tourists was 826 million, an increase of 71.3% year-on-year in comparable terms, and 4.1% over 2019 by comparable terms. The number of railway passengers sent across the country and the peak of highway traffic in a single day also reached record highs.
He Yadong said that during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday this year, the national consumer market was full of popularity and vitality, and market sales were growing steadily and rapidly. According to business big data monitoring, the average daily sales of key retail and catering companies in the country during the holiday season increased by 8.6% compared to the 2022 National Day holiday.
Specifically, during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday this year, the national consumer market showed four characteristics:
First, there are a variety of consumer activities. The Ministry of Commerce organized and carried out a series of consumer promotion activities such as the “Golden Autumn Shopping Festival” around the “Golden Nine Silver Ten” consumption season. According to local conditions, local commercial departments host events such as automobile consumer carnivals and home renewal consumer seasons to create a strong holiday consumption atmosphere.
Second, the highlights of commodity consumption are outstanding. Green health smart products and special festival products are favored. The Ministry of Commerce focuses on monitoring e-commerce platforms where sales of products such as fresh air conditioners, energy-saving water heaters, and smart floor sweepers have more than doubled compared to last year's holiday. Sales of communication equipment, grain, oil, food, beverages, etc. of key monitoring retail companies have increased by about 10% compared to last year's holiday.
Third, service consumption continues to recover. Consumer demand for services such as accommodation and catering, cultural tourism, sports and leisure has been released centrally. The Ministry of Commerce is focusing on monitoring that the average daily sales of catering companies increased by about 20% compared to last year's holiday season. Consumption of personalized, interactive and experiential services continues to rise.
Fourth, the city's business district is bursting with vitality. The average daily traffic of the National Model Pedestrian Street increased by 87.4% over last year's holiday. The average daily passenger traffic in 36 large and medium-sized city key business districts increased 1.6 times compared to last year's holiday. A number of new consumption scenarios have injected new vitality into the holiday market.
He Yadong revealed that in the fourth quarter, the Ministry of Commerce will follow the overall arrangement of the “Consumption Boost Year”, take multiple measures to promote the continuous recovery and expansion of consumption, accelerate the implementation and effectiveness of policies and measures to promote consumption of automobiles, homes, and electronic products, and promote high-quality development in the automotive aftermarket, and give better play to the fundamental role of consumption in driving economic growth.
9 departments issued documents to promote high-quality development of the automotive aftermarket
On October 12, 9 departments including the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Automotive Aftermarket” (“Opinions”), which clarified the overall goals and main tasks of automotive aftermarket development. System deployment promotes high-quality development of the automotive aftermarket, promotes steady growth in the scale of the automotive aftermarket, continuously optimizes the market structure, improves the level of standardization, continuously optimizes the automobile usage environment, and better meets the diverse automobile consumption needs of consumers.
Specifically, the “Opinion” proposes 7 areas of policy measures:
The first is to optimize the auto parts distribution environment, propose formulating and implementing parts distribution standards in the automotive aftermarket, encourage the development of chain management, etc., and promote standardized, transparent and efficient development of auto parts distribution.
The second is to promote the upgrading of automobile maintenance services. It is proposed to speed up the construction of a technical standard system for maintenance of new energy vehicles, strengthen after-sales maintenance training, develop green automobile maintenance, enhance digital service capabilities for automobile maintenance, and better support the development of the NEV industry and protect the interests of vehicle owners.
The third is to establish a multi-level auto racing pattern, support the development of new racing events such as new energy vehicles and intelligent connected vehicles, and develop international and national automobile events.
Fourth, accelerate the development of the traditional classic car industry, propose to study and formulate domestic management and import policies for traditional classic cars, and support local authorities to explore bonded display and hosting services for traditional classic vehicles.
Fifth, support the construction of camps such as self-driving cars and motorhomes, strengthen policy support, and promote the development of motorhome tourism consumption.
The sixth is to enrich the automobile culture experience, support local authorities to promote the construction and operation of projects such as automobile museums and car cinemas, and organize and carry out automobile culture exchange activities.
The seventh is to optimize automobile consumer finance services and encourage financial institutions to optimize financial services for automobile use and consumption under the premise of legal compliance and manageable risks.
Study the feasibility of further lifting or easing restrictions on foreign stock ratios
In recent times, foreign investment and foreign trade have continued to be a hot topic of market attention. He Yadong mentioned that since this year, German investment in China has achieved relatively rapid growth. According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, in January-August, Germany's actual investment in China increased 21% year-on-year. He Yadong believes that the reason Germany's investment in China has achieved relatively rapid growth is mainly due to its leadership in exchanging high-level visits, the attractiveness of investing in China, and the driving force of policy mechanisms.
He Yadong pointed out that in November of last year and June of this year, leaders of China and Germany successfully exchanged visits and held a series of events such as the Sino-German Economic and Technical Cooperation Forum and the Entrepreneurs' Roundtable, which released a positive signal that the two governments firmly support Sino-German economic and trade cooperation, and strongly boosted the confidence of enterprises of the two countries in investment cooperation. Executives from German multinational companies are visiting China one after another to seek new opportunities for development in China. They are generally optimistic about China's economic development prospects, are full of confidence in investing in China, and are willing to continue to invest more in China and deeply cultivate the Chinese market.
“Since last year, the effects of the special policies we have promoted and introduced one after another, such as foreign-funded R&D centers, manufacturing investment promotion, and encouragement catalogues, are gradually showing. In January-August, actual investment by German companies in the fields of electrical equipment manufacturing and chemical manufacturing in China increased by 172% and 91%, respectively.” He Yadong said.
In terms of continuing to expand market openness, He Yadong pointed out that in the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to rationally reduce the negative list of foreign investment admissions, study the feasibility of further lifting or easing restrictions on foreign stock ratios, and attract more global elements into the Chinese market.
editor/tolk