The State Council Information Office held a press conference at 3 pm on March 26, 2024. The Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Customs, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology introduced recent data and policies on production, consumption, import and export, and answered reporters' questions. Let's see together--
A quick overview of the press conference--
●The consumer market continues to recover and grow steadily, showing three characteristics.
●Import and export in the first two months of this year hit a record high for the same period in history.
●Encourage and promote the trade-in of consumer goods such as cars and home appliances.
●Accelerate the implementation of policies such as large-scale equipment updates.
●Infrastructure such as 5G and computing power will be built appropriately ahead of schedule.
●Accelerate the development of artificial intelligence-enabled manufacturing represented by large models.
Recent situation
Ministry of Commerce: The consumer market continues to recover and is growing steadily
It can be summarized into three aspects:
●Bulk consumption such as automobiles and home furnishings has stabilized and improved.
Retail sales of commodities increased by 4.6% year-on-year, with nearly 90% of the 16 categories of commodities above designated size achieving positive growth. Among them, the retail sales of communication equipment increased by 16.2% year-on-year; the retail sales of automobiles increased by 8.7% year-on-year, which was 2.8 percentage points higher than last year. Household consumption also rebounded to varying degrees, with retail sales of home appliances, furniture and building materials for units above designated size increasing by 5.7%, 4.6% and 2.1% respectively year-on-year.
●Consumption vitality in services such as catering and tourism has increased.
Driven by the holiday economy, service consumption potential has been further released. In the first two months, catering revenue increased by 12.5% year-on-year, 3.3 percentage points higher than the same period last year, accounting for 11.7% of total retail sales, and contributing 24.8% to the growth of total retail sales. Retail sales of services increased by 12.3%, continuing to maintain double-digit growth.
●New consumption such as digital and green is booming.
Digital consumption is growing rapidly. In the first two months, national online retail sales increased by 15.3% year-on-year, of which online retail sales of physical goods increased by 14.4%. Green consumption is very popular, especially new energy vehicles. In the first two months, new energy passenger vehicles The retail sales increased by 37.2% year-on-year.
General Administration of Customs: Imports and exports in the first two months of this year reached 6.6 trillion yuan, a record high for the same period in history, and foreign trade got off to a good start.
●The scale of import and export ranked first in the same period in history. In the first two months of this year, imports and exports reached 6.61 trillion yuan, a record high for the same period in history.
● "Double growth" of exports and imports. Exports increased by 10.3% and imports increased by 6.7%. This "double growth" not only reflects the continued recovery of my country's economic development, but also provides broad market space and cooperation opportunities for enterprises from various countries.
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: my country's industrial economy has recovered and improved in the first two months
It mainly presents three characteristics:
●Industrial production has accelerated its growth. In the first two months, the added value of industries above designated size increased by 7% year-on-year, 0.2 percentage points faster than in December last year.
●Manufacturing investment continues to grow steadily. In the first two months, manufacturing investment increased by 9.4% year-on-year, private investment in manufacturing achieved double-digit growth, and investment in technological transformation increased by 15.1% year-on-year.
●The growth rate of industrial exports has picked up significantly. According to calculations based on data from the General Administration of Customs, from January to February, my country's total industrial foreign trade denominated in US dollars maintained growth. Among them, the exports of machinery, home appliances and other industries all achieved double-digit growth.
The next step of the job
Ministry of Commerce: Encourage and promote the trade-in of automobiles, home appliances and other consumer goods
Recently, the State Council issued the "Action Plan for Promoting Large-Scale Equipment Updating and Trade-In of Consumer Goods" to deploy the trade-in work for consumer goods. At present, we are working hard to study and refine measures, and on the premise of fully respecting the wishes of consumers, promote the replacement of cars with "energy" and gradually increase the sales proportion of new energy vehicles and energy-saving cars; promote the replacement of home appliances with "smart" and promote the consumption of home appliances Develop in the direction of intelligence, greenness, and low-carbonization; promote the "renewal" of home decoration, kitchens, and bathrooms, and support the renovation and partial renovation of old houses in more existing and second-hand houses.
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology:
Accelerate the development of artificial intelligence-enabled manufacturing represented by large models
This year, the "Artificial Intelligence +" action will be carried out to promote the deep integration of artificial intelligence and the real economy, and promote the new industrialization empowered by artificial intelligence. Continue to optimize the innovation platform network. In accordance with the issued "Implementation Opinions on Innovation and Development of Pilot Tests in Manufacturing", we will accelerate the construction of modern pilot test capabilities and build a number of new national manufacturing innovation centers and test verification platforms. Create a world-leading science and technology park and innovation highland. On the basis of the existing 178 national high-tech zones and 45 national advanced manufacturing clusters, this year will start the creation of national new industrialization demonstration zones and carry out work such as the cultivation and promotion of advanced manufacturing clusters.
Infrastructure such as 5G and computing power will be built appropriately ahead of schedule
Infrastructure such as 5G and computing power will be built appropriately ahead of schedule to promote the large-scale application of the industrial Internet. At the same time, we will continue to promote the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry, actively build smart factories, implement special actions for digital empowerment of small and medium-sized enterprises, accelerate the empowerment of digital technology, and promote the development of the manufacturing industry towards digitalization, networking, and intelligence.
Promote the healthy and orderly development of emerging industries such as new generation information technology, intelligent connected cars, aerospace, and biomanufacturing
Cultivate and strengthen emerging industries. Promote the healthy and orderly development of new-generation information technology, intelligent connected vehicles, aerospace, bio-manufacturing and other emerging industries, and accelerate the development and large-scale application of Beidou industry. At the same time, we plan to build future industries in advance. In January this year, our Ministry jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting Innovation and Development of Future Industries" with six departments to strengthen forward-looking planning and policy guidance for future industries, and accelerate the development of future industries around the battlefield of manufacturing owners.
Accelerate the implementation of policies such as large-scale equipment updates
In accordance with the deployment of the State Council's "Action Plan for Promoting Large-Scale Equipment Updates and Trade-in of Consumer Goods", focusing on promoting new industrialization, taking large-scale equipment updates as the starting point, the manufacturing technology transformation and upgrading project will be implemented, focusing on digital transformation and green upgrading, and promoting High-end, intelligent and green development of manufacturing industry.
General Administration of Customs: "One increase, one decrease, one excellence and one strength" to better serve foreign trade "quality improvement and quantity stability"
In accordance with the deployment and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, this year the customs will continue to focus on improving the quality of supply of policies and measures and the level of customs supervision services, taking practical measures and seeking practical results. Last week, we just held a deployment meeting for special actions to promote cross-border trade facilitation and launched 33 reform and innovation measures that benefit enterprises and the people.
Generally speaking, this year we will better serve the "quality improvement and quantity stabilization" of foreign trade through a policy "combination" of "one increase, one decrease, one excellence and one strength".
"Increase" means increasing convenience and improving the level of trade facilitation. Including vigorously promoting the construction of smart customs, improving the efficiency of customs clearance of goods across the entire import and export chain, expanding the "single window" function of international trade, accelerating the international mutual recognition of "authorized economic operators" (AEO), etc. In May, we will also host the Global AEO Conference , the purpose is to promote simpler procedures, more efficient customs clearance, and more convenient trade.
"Reducing" means reducing costs and helping enterprises reduce their burdens and fees. Fully release the policy dividends of free trade agreements such as RCEP and proactive disclosure, improve the level of benefits enjoyed by enterprises, and continue to standardize charging behavior in the import and export links.
"Excellent" means excellent service and optimizing the port business environment. Timely introduce more "one enterprise, one policy" and "one industry, one policy" policies and measures. Through the further strengthening of policy measures, we will go all out to help enterprises expand markets and secure orders, and use the certainty of customs supervision services to deal with the foreign trade situation. Uncertainty of change.
"Strong" means strong innovation and cultivating new momentum for foreign trade. At present, the industrial foundation, factor endowments, and innovation capabilities on which my country's foreign trade development relies are constantly improving, and the pace of customs innovation is also accelerating. On February 9, the "Overall Plan for the Construction of the Shanghai Oriental Hub International Business Cooperation Zone" was approved; on March 1, the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone was officially closed for operation; the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port is in full swing and is advancing in an orderly manner. We will continue to focus on supporting the construction of open platforms, supporting the development of new business formats such as cross-border e-commerce and bonded maintenance, vigorously carry out innovation in the customs supervision system, and use new models of supervision services to stimulate new momentum and create new advantages in foreign trade.
