China News Service, March 24. Zhu Xiaoliang, Director of the Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce, revealed on the 24th that at present, the proportion of my country's consumer goods imports in the total imports of goods has increased by 4% compared with five years ago.
The State Council Information Office held a press conference today, inviting Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Bingnan and Executive Vice Governor of Hainan Provincial People's Government Shen Danyang to introduce the first China International Consumer Goods Fair and answer questions from reporters.
A reporter asked at the meeting: In 2020, my country's consumer goods imports reached 1.57 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.2% year-on-year, and the growth rate exceeded the growth rate of goods imports over the same period.
What policy support does the rapid growth of consumer goods imports benefit from?
How will the first China International Consumer Goods Expo help further increase in consumer goods imports?
Zhu Xiaoliang said that despite the spread of the global new crown pneumonia epidemic, my country's consumer goods imports still achieved rapid growth last year. In the first two months of this year, they continued to grow at a faster rate than overall imports. In RMB terms, the growth rate reached more than 16%.
This fully demonstrates the vast development space and huge development potential of China's domestic demand market.
At present, the proportion of our imports of consumer goods in the total imports of goods has increased by 4 percentage points from five years ago.
In recent years, the Ministry of Commerce, in accordance with the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and related departments, has proactively expanded imports, increased supply in the domestic market, and better met the needs of the people for consumption upgrades.
First, take the initiative to lower import tariffs.
In recent years, my country has taken the initiative to lower import tariff rates on many occasions, especially lowering the tariff rates on consumer goods where people’s daily needs and domestic supplies have shortcomings.
my country's overall tariff level has dropped from 9.8% in 2017 to below 7.5%. On the one hand, it has promoted the import of consumer goods, and on the other hand, it has also benefited consumers.
In addition, Hainan is also implementing a tax-free shopping policy on outlying islands. This policy began to be piloted in 2011. In the past few years, adjustments and optimization efforts have been increased. The new policy was implemented on July 1 last year, and shopping quotas were adjusted.
Second, broaden the import channels of consumer goods.
In 2018, we began to implement cross-border e-commerce retail import pilots, and expanded the scope of the pilots in practice, holding the China International Import Expo, setting up import trade promotion innovation demonstration zones, promoting supply chain innovation and application, broadening import channels, and expanding imports of high-quality goods.
Third, improve the level of trade facilitation.
Actively promote the implementation of the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement, take the initiative to perform corresponding obligations, deepen the reform of “delegation, regulation, and service”, accelerate the construction of a “single window” in international trade, and continue to optimize the business environment.
Zhu Xiaoliang said that the Consumer Fair is based on creating a high-level consumption and trade promotion platform, with the participation of many well-known multinational companies, and a large number of domestic buyers and professional visitors. With the help of the comprehensive policy dividend of the free trade port and the unique advantages of Hainan, it will give full play to my country's super-large The gravitational effect of the large-scale market attracts global high-quality consumer resource elements, which in turn drives the further expansion of the scale of consumer goods imports.