General

In recent years, China has continued to promote high-level opening-up to the outside world, and the scale of the international trade import market has been continuously expanding. Vice Minister of Commerce Sheng Qiuping stated at a recent press conference of the National Development and Reform Office that with the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the steady progress of new urbanization, the scale of middle-income groups gradually expanding, and China's consumer goods imports will maintain a stable growth trend.

Sheng Qiuping said: In recent years, the Ministry of Commerce has conscientiously implemented the decisions and deployments of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, and worked with relevant departments to play the role of key exhibition platforms such as the China Import and Export Fair and the China Consumer Expo. It has accelerated the cultivation of import trade promotion innovation demonstration zones, developed new formats and models such as cross-border e-commerce, and expanded the import of high-quality consumer goods. This has not only met the consumption upgrading needs of the people, but also provided business opportunities for the development of enterprises in various countries, and provided impetus for the recovery of the world economy

Provide important support for building a new development pattern

"At present, China is in the stage of upgrading from mass consumption to medium and high-end consumption. In recent years, China has played a role as a platform for major exhibitions such as China Expo and China Consumer Expo, and expanded the import of high-quality consumer goods, which not only demonstrates China's determination to promote high-level opening up, but also plays an important supporting role in building a new development pattern with domestic systemic circulation as the main body and domestic and international double cycle mutual promotion." Lu Hongyan, a researcher at the Modern Supply Chain Research Institute of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said in an interview with the International Business Daily reporter.

Lu Hongyan further analyzes from three levels: consumer side, production side, and market side. From the consumer side, expanding the import of high-quality consumer goods is beneficial for optimizing the domestic product supply structure, improving the quality of product supply, better meeting the people's needs for a better life, and thus stimulating the potential and vitality of consumption; From the perspective of production, it is conducive to forcing domestic manufacturing enterprises that produce similar products to increase research and development investment, strengthen product innovation, produce high-quality products, and promote the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry; From a market perspective, imports are an important component of the domestic and international dual cycle. Expanding imports of high-quality consumer goods is not only beneficial for strengthening the domestic market by meeting residents' consumption needs, but also for driving the development of the upstream and downstream industrial chains of import trade, promoting the balanced development of international trade imports and exports, and thus helping to build a new development pattern.

Expanding the import of high-quality consumer goods is not only necessary for improving the quality and efficiency of China's economy, improving consumption levels and quality, but also contributing to the growth of the world economy. "Professor Li Chunding from the School of Economics and Management of China Agricultural University told the International Business Daily reporter. On the one hand, as people's income levels increase, residents' demand for high-quality and diversified consumer goods continues to rise, Actively expanding the import of high-quality consumer goods is the need of economic development and the internal demand of consumption upgrading, as well as the inevitable choice to improve living standards and achieve common prosperity.

On the other hand, expanding international trade imports of high-quality consumer goods will provide business opportunities for the development of enterprises in various countries. China's huge market potential and population size will provide a demand market for foreign enterprises' products, improve their profits and profits, and thus bring development opportunities.

Li Chunding said that expanding imports of high-quality consumer goods also provides impetus for global economic recovery. Against the backdrop of global inflation, continuous interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and major developed economies, and shrinking global demand, China's expansion of high-quality consumer goods imports will bring new impetus to global demand, inject new vitality into world economic growth, and promote global economic recovery and growth

Play the role of a platform and take multiple measures to expand imports

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, the import volume of consumer goods in China reached 1.93 trillion yuan in 2022, an increase of more than double that of 2012, accounting for 11% of the total import volume; Cross border e-commerce imports amounted to 560 billion yuan, an increase of 4.9% compared to the previous year.

It is worth mentioning that as a large-scale international exhibition with a consumption theme, the Consumer Expo plays an important role in promoting the import of consumer goods and expanding high-quality supply. It is understood that the international exhibition area of the 3rd Consumer Expo covers an area of 80000 square meters, with over 2000 consumer brands from over 60 countries and regions participating. Numerous new products and boutiques will be showcased, further enriching the domestic consumer market. From the perspective of active participation in key countries and regions, Italy serves as the guest of honor for this year's Consumer Expo. Key European and American countries such as France, Germany, the United States, Japan, South Korea, and RCEP members actively organize high-quality consumer enterprises and products from their own countries to participate. Italy, Spain, and Poland will participate in groups for the first time, hoping to explore the Chinese market through the Consumer Expo platform.

When it comes to how to promote the expansion of high-quality consumer goods imports, Lu Hongyan suggests further promoting the expansion of high-quality consumer goods imports and accelerating the improvement of the mechanism that combines "expanding imports" and "promoting consumption". One is the implementation of policies. Further increase tax reduction efforts, actively expand the international trade import market, and expand the proportion of imports of characteristic and high-quality daily necessities and high-end consumer goods.

The second is platform empowerment. While continuing to play the role of key exhibition platforms such as CIIE and Consumer Expo, promoting the construction of national import trade promotion innovation demonstration zones, and optimizing cross-border e-commerce retail import policies, we encourage various regions to build comprehensive international trade centers or import commodity distribution centers that integrate imported alcohol, food, cosmetics, and baby and child products, and develop bonded warehousing, exhibition and display of imported commodities, and import commodity transactions, Improve the upstream and downstream supply chain system of import trade.

The third is channel docking. Encourage domestic circulation enterprises with conditions to develop consumer goods import business, vigorously cultivate circulation enterprises that integrate domestic and foreign trade development, cultivate import commodity agents with discourse power, actively expand domestic circulation channels of imported goods, and promote the convenience of domestic sales of imported goods.