A number of measures have been introduced from the central government to various places to activate the consumption potential of key areas such as automobiles.
Recently, measures have been introduced from the central government to various localities to promote consumption in key areas. Since the beginning of this year, the State Council and many departments have successively introduced measures to stimulate consumption, such as cars going to the countryside and exchanging old ones for new ones, which have obviously promoted the recovery of the overall consumer market. For example, the sales of automobile products boosted the total retail sales of consumer goods by about 1.1 percentage points in October. A few days ago, the the State Council executive meeting put forward "promoting the transformation of automobile purchase restriction to guided use", and once again added more weight to the favorable policies for automobile consumption.
Recently, local governments have successively issued new measures, which opened the curtain of promoting consumption at the end of the year. The the State Council executive meeting held a few days ago pointed out that it is necessary to firmly implement the strategy of expanding domestic demand, further promote mass consumption and key consumption, and release the rural consumption potential.
At present, the recovery of consumption continues to increase, and recently, a number of measures to promote consumption in key areas have been introduced from the central government to various places. Experts pointed out that it is necessary to implement relevant consumption policies, promote the sustained, stable recovery and development of consumption, and also create new demand with high-quality supply, and strive to consolidate the foundation of domestic demand, especially the upgrading of consumption.
Upgrade consumption accelerates recovery.
Consumption is the main engine of economic growth. Since the beginning of this year, in the face of the adverse impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on consumption, various regions and departments have taken active actions and launched a series of policies to boost consumption, which has accelerated the recovery of consumption. Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant departments, issued the Work Plan for Expanding Domestic Demand and Promoting Consumption in the Near Future, and put forward 19 practical measures to expand domestic demand and promote consumption, so as to "loosen" the demand potential and "refuel" the economic cycle.
According to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, while the consumption of essential consumer goods is growing steadily, the consumption of upgrading and bulk commodities is picking up obviously. In October, the retail sales of cosmetics, gold, silver and jewelry increased by 18.3% and 16.7% respectively, and the growth rate was 4.6 and 3.6 percentage points higher than that in September.
Sharla Cheung, a statistician of the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that with the sustained and stable recovery of the national economy, residents’ confidence in consumption has increased, and the demand for car replacement has been continuously released, especially with the promotion of automobile consumption policies, the automobile market sales have obviously picked up. In October this year, the retail sales of automobile products of units above designated size increased by 12.0% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 0.8 percentage points faster than that of September, maintaining double-digit growth for four consecutive months. The sales of automobile products boosted the total retail sales of social consumer goods by about 1.1 percentage points in October.
The dividend of Hainan’s tax exemption policy for outlying islands is also accelerating. According to customs statistics, from July 1 to October 31, Haikou Customs supervised the tax-free sales of outlying islands for four months, with a year-on-year increase of 214.1%. The top three commodities in sales amount were cosmetics, watches and jewelry, which increased by 164.5%, 353.8% and 404.7% respectively. The total sales amount of the top three commodities accounted for 72.8% of the total tax-free sales of outlying islands in the same period.
"There are two main reasons for the rapid growth of consumption of upgraded goods." Zhao Ping, vice president of the Research Institute of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, believes that the first is that the income level of residents continues to increase. In the first three quarters of this year, the actual growth rate of per capita disposable income of Chinese residents turned from negative to positive, which laid a solid material foundation for the recovery of consumption. Secondly, with the orderly resumption of work and production, the supply capacity has been continuously improved, especially the application of a new generation of information technology has created more new formats and new models, which further stimulated the release of consumption potential.
Make efforts to stabilize consumption in key areas
At present, physical consumption such as housing, transportation and so on is still the "big head" of residents’ consumption. Since the beginning of this year, a series of policies have been introduced from the central government to the local government to stabilize and promote mass consumption such as automobiles.
In terms of "travel", in March, the the State Council executive meeting identified three major measures to promote automobile consumption; In April, 11 departments jointly issued the Notice on Several Measures to Stabilize and Expand Automobile Consumption; In July, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments jointly issued the Notice on Launching the Activities of New Energy Vehicles Going to the Countryside. The the State Council executive meeting held on November 18th once again increased the favorable policies for automobile consumption. The meeting proposed to encourage all localities to adjust and optimize the purchase restriction measures and increase the number plate indicators. We will carry out a new round of vehicles going to the countryside and replacing them with old ones, encourage qualified areas to buy trucks of 3.5 tons or less and passenger cars of 1.6 liters or less for rural residents, and subsidize residents to eliminate vehicles with emission standards of national III or below and buy new ones. Strengthen the construction of parking lots, charging piles and other facilities.
"Cars going to the countryside and exchanging old ones for new ones are effective measures to stimulate automobile consumption, which is also in line with the trend of sinking consumption and upgrading consumption." Zhao Ping said.
From the local level, Beijing, Hubei, Chongqing, Jiangsu, Gansu, Jilin, Xinjiang, Hainan and other provinces have introduced relevant policies and measures to stabilize and expand automobile consumption, which promote automobile consumption from the aspects of implementing the subsidy policy for the purchase of new energy vehicles, accelerating the elimination of scrapped old diesel trucks, smoothing the circulation and trading of used cars, and making good use of automobile consumption finance.
Zhao Ping said that if the policy implementation can produce the expected results, according to previous data, the automobile consumption promotion policy is expected to drive the total retail sales of social consumer goods to increase by about 1 percentage point, which will obviously lead to the recovery of the overall consumer market.
In terms of "housing", data from relevant industry associations show that there are hundreds of millions of over-aged household appliances in China that need to be updated urgently. The executive meeting in the State Council proposed to promote home improvement consumption of household appliances and furniture. Encourage qualified areas to subsidize the elimination of old household appliances and furniture and the purchase of green smart household appliances and environmentally friendly furniture.
"Consumption such as automobiles and household appliances accounts for a large proportion of residents’ consumption expenditure, and increasing stimulus to bulk consumption can release huge consumption potential." Professor Pan Helin, Executive Dean of the Digital Economy Research Institute of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that the consumer demand of residents has not disappeared, and the epidemic has only temporarily suppressed the release of demand. The introduction of encouraging policies for bulk consumption will help to stimulate residents’ consumption enthusiasm, restore consumption vitality, and then play a role in stabilizing consumption.
Pan Helin believes that mass consumption also has a strong industrial chain driving role. Promoting large-scale consumption can stimulate the vitality of relevant industrial chains, thereby further increasing the wage income of residents and enhancing their spending power.
In promoting the sustained growth of consumption of bulk commodities and services, Meng Wei, spokesperson of the National Development and Reform Commission, said earlier that it would promote the transformation and upgrading of automobile and household appliances consumption, promote the transformation of automobile purchase restriction to guided use, encourage local governments to introduce policies to promote the replacement of old cars, promote the construction of parking lots and roadside parking facilities in major public buildings, improve the recycling and treatment system of used household appliances, support the trade-in activities of household appliances, and promote the renewal and consumption of household appliances. Actively develop housing rental consumption to meet the housing needs of residents.
Consumption potential needs to be continuously tapped.
The executive meeting of the State Council proposed to boost catering consumption and promote rural consumption by expanding county and township consumption. Experts pointed out that to promote offline consumption such as catering and tap the potential of the rural consumer market, it is necessary to speed up the filling of the soft and hard shortcomings of consumption, thus further consolidating the momentum of consumption recovery.
At present, offline consumption is gradually improving. In October, catering revenue increased by 0.8% year-on-year, and the growth rate turned positive for the first time in the year. In the first 10 months, the retail sales of supermarkets above designated size increased by 3%, while the decline of retail sales of department stores and specialty store was obviously narrowed.
"Overall, the production capacity of offline consumer companies is recovering and their confidence is being rebuilt. With the normalization of domestic epidemic prevention and control, the flow of offline consumption has been guaranteed, and there will be many hot consumption periods such as New Year’s Day and Spring Festival next year. Coupled with a series of measures to promote consumption, the recovery of offline consumption is expected to continue. " Pan helin thinks.
In October, the growth rate of retail sales of rural consumer goods was 0.9 percentage points higher than that of cities and towns, and the rural market recovered better than that of cities and towns. "The rural population accounts for nearly 40%. From the perspective of consumers, it is a huge market and a new growth point of domestic demand. The growth rate of rural e-commerce is also faster than that of cities and towns, which is a potential market for new formats. " Zhao Ping said.
In view of the "blocking point" of rural consumption, Meng Wei said that he would vigorously improve the comprehensive level of e-commerce and express delivery in rural areas and the modernization level of agricultural products circulation, accelerate the improvement of e-commerce service system and express logistics distribution system at county, township and village levels, promote the branding, standardization, digitalization and industrialization transformation of rural products and services, guide modern services to extend to rural areas, accelerate the reinforcement of weak links in rural consumption, and effectively boost rural consumption.
"Unlike cities, there are no large business districts in rural areas. It is more important to stimulate the vitality of rural consumption, strengthen infrastructure such as logistics, and build e-commerce terminal sites." Pan Helin believes that it is also an important way to promote consumption by further strengthening the activities of automobiles and home appliances to the countryside and introducing high-quality goods to the countryside. In addition, efforts should be made to promote the export of agricultural products and encourage two-way circulation between urban and rural areas. By breaking the barriers of resource flow, per capita disposable income in rural areas will be increased, and rural consumption capacity will be enhanced.
