Hongjing

Consumption is the "ballast" for the stable operation of the economy. This year's Government Work Report proposes to stabilize and expand consumption. This topic has sparked heated discussion among NPC deputies, CPPCC members, and all sectors of society.

Individuals interviewed by the Shanghai Securities News reporter stated that as various policies and measures to expand domestic demand and promote consumption proposed in the Government Work Report continue to take effect, China's overall consumer market is expected to show stable growth.

New consumption potential needs to be further tapped

How to further tap into new consumption potential? During the Two Sessions, Li Changqing, a national NPC deputy and Party branch secretary of Qingyutan Village, Xunsan Street, Rongcheng City, Shandong Province, suggested extending holidays or adding statutory holidays, restoring short holidays, allowing residents sufficient time for tourism and shopping, thus stimulating consumption.

Tourism, culture, and sports consumption are a concentrated manifestation of China's new consumption potential. "Although service consumption has been significantly affected by the epidemic, it has great growth potential and is already in a continuous recovery process," Zhao Ping, vice president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) Research Institute, told the Shanghai Securities News reporter.

Zhao Ping analyzed: "Due to the needs of epidemic prevention and control, service consumption venues such as cinemas, performance venues, and sports and fitness facilities still need to limit flow, and cross-provincial and inbound tourism have not yet fully recovered, thus restricting the speed of consumption recovery. However, from the development trend of service consumption, the growth rate and proportion of China's service consumption continue to increase, with a growth rate higher than that of commodity consumption."

This year's Government Work Report proposes to develop health, culture, tourism, and sports service consumption. Making good use of "Internet +," promoting deeper and broader integration of online and offline, developing new formats and models, and providing consumers with more convenient and comfortable services and products.

In this regard, Fu Yifu, director of the Consumer Finance Research Center of Suning Financial Research Institute, told the Shanghai Securities News reporter: "It can be foreseen that with the continuous improvement of digital infrastructure, coupled with the accelerated integration of online and offline, and the increasing cultivation of new consumption habits among Chinese people, new consumption will continue to inject continuous growth momentum into the consumer market in the future."

Innovative consumption becomes a new engine for consumption

"The Price of cosmetics at Hainan's duty-free shops is very affordable, much cheaper than domestic counters. I bought a lot of cosmetics." A Ms. Zhao who recently shopped at a Hainan duty-free shop told reporters.

Data released by the Ministry of Commerce shows that in 2020, the sales of Hainan duty-free shops increased by 1.27 times. Recently, Beijing, Shanghai, Yunnan, Guangdong, Hubei, and other places have also clearly stated that they will further develop the duty-free economy.

"The quality of domestic goods is constantly improving, import channels are constantly expanding, duty-free shopping policies are constantly improving, and coupled with the impact of the epidemic on residents' outbound travel, overseas consumption has clearly returned." Zhu Xiaoliang, director of the Department of Consumption Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce, said earlier.

At the same time, information consumption such as 5G is gradually flourishing. According to a report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), between 2020 and 2025, the commercial use of 5G will directly drive information consumption by 8.2 trillion yuan.

"During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, innovative consumption will be reflected in two aspects: one is new products that are digital, intelligent, and personalized, brought about by new-generation information technology, as well as new online services; the other is new consumption methods and channels created by the application of new-generation information technology, such as social e-commerce, community e-commerce, and live e-commerce. Innovative consumption has become a new engine driving consumption growth." Zhao Ping said in an interview with the Shanghai Securities News reporter.

Consumption growth rate is expected to further improve this year

The modern circulation system is a key link connecting production and consumption. The Government Work Report proposes to improve the urban-rural circulation system, accelerate the development of e-commerce and express delivery in rural areas, and expand consumption in counties and townships.

"Currently, the rural sinking market has formed a tiered development pattern with the urban consumer market, which provides new opportunities for bulk consumption. Encouraging rural automobile consumption and improving the level of home appliance consumption will promote the continuous growth of automobile and home appliance consumption." Zhao Ping analyzed.

She believes that improving the urban-rural circulation system can not only tap consumption potential and enhance consumption convenience but also improve consumer satisfaction, enhance consumer willingness and frequency, and has a positive role in comprehensively expanding consumption.

Wang Wentao, Minister of Commerce, recently stated that in the future, a modern circulation system will be established through "six improvements": improving the layout of the circulation network, improving the circulation infrastructure, improving the competitiveness of circulation entities, improving the mode of circulation development, improving the level of supply chain modernization, and improving the degree of integration of domestic and foreign trade.

In terms of measures to promote consumption, Zhu Xiaoliang said that the Ministry of Commerce will firmly implement the strategy of expanding domestic demand, strengthen guidance on local consumption promotion work, organize circulation enterprises to carry out various consumption promotion activities, summarize and promote good experiences and practices, and use multiple measures to promote consumption, further enhancing the fundamental role of consumption in economic development.

He said that as various policies and measures to expand domestic demand and promote consumption continue to take effect, and the adaptability of supply and demand further strengthens, the overall consumer market is expected to show a recovery growth trend this year.

Zhao Ping also said that the consumption growth rate is expected to further improve this year, and the overall annual growth rate will approach or exceed that of 2019.