Dear friends from the Press,

Welcome to the press conference of today. My name is ShenDanyang, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce. I am very glad to meet you all again and make a briefing on China’s business performance in January - November this year, and answer your questions.

I. Domestic Market Operation

According to NBS statistics, retail sales of consumer goods in Novemberthis year amounted to 1.8477 trillion yuan, with anominal increase of 14.9% as compared with that of the same period of previous year, 0.4 and 0.7 percentage point faster than that of in October and September. The growth rate of retail sales of consumer goods in November was the highest of this year. Retail sales of consumer goods from January to November amounted to 18.6833 trillion yuan, with a nominal increase of 14.2%, and 2.8 percentage points lower than that of the same period of previous year. The actual growth was 12%, price fluctuation excluded, and 0.6 percentage point faster compared with that of the same period of previous year.In November, domestic consumer market showed a steady upward trend continuing for several months and “five rises”.

1. Sales by medium-and-large sized circulation enterprises rose slightly. Sales value of 3,000 key retailers monitored by MOFCOMwas up by 8.5% year on year in November and 0.3 percentage point faster than that of the previous month. Sales value of businesses above designated size was up by 15.1%, 0.2 percentage point faster than that of total retail sales ofconsumer goods.

2. Urban consumption saw a further rise. Retail sales of consumer goods in November in urban areas rose 15%, and the growth rate was 0.5 and 0.8 percentage point faster than that of in October and September.

3. Sales of clothing rose significantly. Sales value of clothing, shoes and hats, and textile goods of 3,000 key retailers monitored by MOFCOMwas up by 11.2%, 12.8% and 12.7% respectively, and 3.7, 3.8 and 6.7 percentage points faster as compared with that of the previous month.

4. Hot Sales rose significantly. Sales value of cosmetics, gold, silver and jewelry, and commodity for PE class of 3,000 key retailers monitored by MOFCOM was up by 12.5%, 13.8% and 5.3% respectively, and 3.7, 7.5 and 6.5 percentage points faster as compared with that of the previous month.

5. Prices of farm produce as food rose slightly. According to the monitoring of MOFCOM, prices of farm produce as food in November in 36 medium-and-large cities saw a slightly drop. The wholesale prices of vegetables rose 7.6% as compared with that of in October, of which, cucumber, eggplant, beans and bitter gourd were all rose more than 20% and that of Chinese cabbage, cabbage, celery and white radish fell further. The prices of grain, oil and meat continued to rise. The wholesale prices of beef and chicken were up by 3.1% and 1.6% respectively as compared with that of in October, while the retail sale prices of small package of wheat flour and cooking oil saw an increase of 0.4% and 0.3% as compared with that of in October. The price of egg dropped slightly, and the retail sale price was down by 1.3% as compared with that of previous month.

II. Foreign Trade

According to Customs statistics, China’s imports and exports from January to November this yearare of US$3.50028 trillion, with a year on year increase of 5.8%. Among that, exports amounted to US$1.84991trillion, up by 7.3%; and imports amounted to US$ 1.65037 trillion, up by 4.1%. Trade surplus was US$199.54 billion, up by 44.1%. The main features of foreign trade are as follows:

1. Trade with U.S., BRICs and other important trade partners was steadily up. China-U.S. trade in the first 11 months rose 8.2%, China-ASEAN trade was up by 9.3% and bilateral trade of China-Russia, China-South Africa and China-Brazil were up by 11.9%, 30.4% and 1.3% respectively. Bilateral trade of China-EU and China-Japan was down by 4.1 % and 2.9%respectively.

2. Export by the central and western on fast increase. From January to November, exports by central and western region grew faster, of which,Chongqing was up by 1.1times year-on-year and that of Anhui, Henan and Sichuan was up by 62.3%, 58.3% and 34.8% respectively. Export by eastern region grew slowly, of which, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong rose 6.6%, 4.6%, 4.2%, 3.9% and 2.2% respectively, which were all lower than the national growth.

3. Exports and imports ingeneral trade grow steady. The exports and imports of China’s general trade from January to November this year was US$ 1.8227 trillion, up by 4.3%. Among that, exports amounted to US$892.23 billion, up by 7.2%; imports registered US$930.47 billion, up by 1.7%.The exports and imports of China’s processing trade remained weak and amounted to US$1.22105 trillion, with a year-on-year increase of 2.6%, among that, exports registeredUS$283.27 billion, up by 2.9% while imports amounted to US$437.78 billion, up by 2.0%.

4. Exports of mechanic and electronic products grew steady. Exports of mechanic and electronic products in the first 11 registered US$1.06454 trillion, up by 8.2%, 0.9 percentage points higher than that of the total exports.Total export oftextile, clothing, furniture, luggage, shoes, plastic products and toys rose by 7.5%, of which, export of plastic products rose 34.7%, and furniture was up by 27.5%. However, export of 7 labor-intensive products dropped 1.1% in November and down for a second time since February.

III. Foreign investment

From January to November, 22,503 foreign-invested enterprises were newly approved, down by 10.3% year on year; realized FDI reached US$ 100.02 billion, down by 3.6% year on year. In November, 2,482 foreign-invested enterprises were approved in China, down by 8.7% year on year; realized FDI amounted to US$8.29 billion, down by 5.4% year on year (excluding the statistics of banks, securities and insurances). The main features of foreign investment are as follows:

1. Realized FDI in service sector continued to exceed that in manufacturing sector. From January to November, realized FDI in service sector registered US$47.57 billion, down by 2.5% year and year, taking up 47.6% of the total national amount, 3.6 percentage points higher than that in manufacturing sector, increasingly obvious the trend that foreign investment transferred into the service sector. Realized FDI in real estate fell by 8.3% and that in service sector rose by 2.8% with real estate factor deducted. The figures in several industries as such city public transportation, telecommunication and other information transfer services and pipeline transportation rose rapidly on year-on-year basis, up by 2441.5%, 1172.5% and 707.2% respectively. The figures in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery sectors reached US1.78 billion, up by 4.2% year on year, accounting for 1.8% of the total national amount. The figures in manufacturing sector, US$43.97 billion, down by 7.1% year on year, taking up 44.0% of the total national amount. Among that, realized FDI in some industries such as communication equipment manufacturing, printing and record medium reproduction and food manufacturing rose rapidly, up by 33.8%, 34% and 32.5% respectively.

2. Investment from U.S. and Japan, the major source of foreign capital, kept increasing. From January to November, realized FDI from the U.S. reached US$2.91 billion, up by 6.3% year on year, and that from ten countries/regions in Asia (Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and South Korea) amounted to US$85.07 billion, down by 5.0% year on year, among which, investment from Japan reached US$6.61 billion, up by 11.3% year on year; Singapore, US$6.0 billion, up 14.2% year on year; and South Korea, US$2.69 billion, up 15.0% year on year. Realized FDI from E.U. 27 countries registered US$5.81 billion, down by 2.9% year on year, among which, investments from Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland rose rapidly with the growth rates of 25.8%, 49.5% and 58.5% respectively.

3. Realized FDI in the central China maintained rapid growth. From January to November, realized FDI in the central China reached US$8.4 billion, up by 18.9% year on year, accounting for 8.4% of the total national amount; the figures in the western China, US$7.79 billion, up 1.1% year on year, accounting for 7.8% of the total national amount; the figures in the eastern China, US$83.83 billion, down 5.8% year on year, taking up 83.8% of the total national amount.

IV. Investment and economic cooperation overseas

1. Direct investment overseas. From January to November, Chinese investors had directly invested in 3,596 overseas companies in 130 countries and regions, and total direct investments in non-financial sectors reached US$62.5 billion, up by 25% year on year.

Investments in Hong Kong, ASEAN, the U.S., Russia and Japan achieved double-digit growth of 38%, 31%, 13%, 41% and 19% respectively. Direct investment in E.U. reached US$1.7 billion, down by 20% over the same period of last year; that in Australia, US$1.6 billion, down by 19% over the same period of last year.

2. Contracted projects overseas. From January to November, the accomplished turnover of China's contracted projects overseas amounted to US$102.4 billion, up by 19% year on year, and value of newly-signed contracts was US$128.8 billion, up by 13% year on year. In November, the accomplished turnover reached US$15.34 billion. The new projects each with a contract value above US$50 million numbered 499 (an increase of 96 over the same period of last year), amounting to US$102 billion, accounting for 79% of the total value of new contacts, up by 16% year on year. Among that, the projects each with a contract value above US$100 million numbered 280, an increase of 68 over the same period of last year.

By the end of November 2012, total contract value of the projects overseas reached US$970.5 billion with the realized turnover of US$641.4 billion.

3. Labor service cooperation overseas. From January to November, all kinds of laborers sent abroad reached 406 thousand, with an increase of 11 thousand over the same period of last year. Among that, laborers sent abroad for contracted projects reached 209 thousand and that for labor cooperation projects numbered 197 thousand. By the end of November, all laborers sent overseas totaled 810 thousand, a decrease of 12 thousand over the same period of last year.

The above is a briefing on business performance from January to November. Now, I will take your questions.

CCTV：In view of the data just released, the actual growth rate of consumption from January to November this year was faster than the same period of the previous year. What’s the reason of this? Besides, what’s your view on the consumption situation next year? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: The consumption this year formed a V-shape. It maintained a slow down-sliding trend in the beginning of this year, while after August, the growth rate of consumption began to rise and the total retail sales of consumer goods presented a steady growth. The growth rate of consumer goods was 14.9% and it is predicted that the growth rate of the whole year is 14.3%. The growth in consumption this year is hard to come by. The actual growth of consumer goods from January to November was 0.6 percentage point faster as compared with that of the same period of the previous year. The contribution rate of consumption to economic growth in the first three quarters exceeds that of investment for the first time from 2006, which is a good indication for development and structural adjustments.

Changes in consumption patterns and features of the growth pointed to four reasons behind this growth: 1) Consumption in urban and rural areas increased simultaneously. Consumption in urban and rural areas from January to November rose 14.2% and 14.4% respectively. 2) Consumption in central and western region of China grew faster. Apart from some provinces, consumption in provinces in central and western region from January to November grew by above 15%, accounting for over 40% of total consumption in China and 0.2 percentage point higher than that of the first half of this year. 3) Sales of communication equipment, furniture and building materials enjoyed a relatively high growth rate. Growth rate of retail sales of communication equipment, furniture and building materials was 30.6%, 26.3% and 24.8% respectively.4) Shopping online and shopping with bank cards grew faster. Trade value of China’s online shopping registered 806.2 billion yuan, up by 44%. Penetration of bank card in the third quarter reached 46.3%, and the consumption value by card saw an increase of 24.3%.

As for the consumption situation of next year, we believe that there are many favorable conditions to maintain the steady growth of consumption, a target put forward by the Central Economic Work Conference. There are signs of steady economic growth, which is the most important factor in the growth of consumption. At the same time, in accordance with the spirit of the 18th Party Congress and Central Economic Work Conference, China will improve people’s livelihood, further raise the level of income, education, health care, social security and other public services and promote the coordination of urban and rural development. These policy measures provide a good space for the expansion of consumption. Of course, we also notice the impact of shrinking demand in foreign markets as well as the downward pressure of domestic market. We need to pay attention to the problems in consumption. For instance, from January to November growth of sales in home appliances, automobiles and related products and by large and medium-sized distributers slowed down; consumption growth in Shanghai and other major cities is relatively slow; sales of food and beverage was robust in the past, but tepid in this year. All these suggest that we will continue to face lots of constraints and pressure in expanding consumption next year. Thank you for your question.

China Business Times: Paid-in foreign capital continued a downward trend since the beginning of this year. Confronted with the current international situation, some people predict foreign capital inflow will drop sharply next year. What’s your view on this issue? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: Some media seam to think so, however, based on the preliminary analysis of the Ministry of Commerce, we believe foreign capital inflow in 2013 will continue to maintain a steady growth instead of decline sharply. Why do we think drastic decline unlikely? Mainly because the driving forces of foreign investment growth have not disappeared. Let’s look at it from three aspects. Firstly, China's macro-economic growth is expected to rise next year, which is the fundamental factor of stabilizing foreign capital inflow. Secondly, China's comparative advantage in foreign investment still exists. Though China's labor costs are on the rise, some places are now faced with the constraints of resources, energy and land, while some places have changed their policies from "attracting investment" to "selecting investment", and the use of foreign capital face some problems and needs to be adjusted, there are still many positive factors. The fundamentals in China's economic and social development remain good, domestic market boasts huge potential, China has complete industrial chains, rich human resources (labor is more costly, but is still competitive with its high quality), and the investment environment continues to improve. Thirdly, Multinationals still consider China as one of the major investment destinations. We did some research shortly before, and Minister Chen Deming personally held a seminar with multinational investors in China. AmCham China and the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China also conducted surveys which showed that most multinationals believe China's strategic position is even more important, and they plan to continue to expand business in China in the next few years instead of withdrawing from this market. A survey conducted by UNCTAD also showed that China is still the first choice for multinationals to invest in. I wonder if you have noticed that though China saw a decrease of foreign capital in the first half of this year, it still surpassed the United States to rank the first in the world. It shows international investors are also optimistic about the prospects for long-term investment in China.

To be realistic, we can see that the overall situation of foreign investment is formidable. 1) Global investment growth is weak. 2) Investment diversion to other countries after the financial crisis has accelerated. 3) Some countries have been painting a black picture of China’s investment climate, which has undermined the confidence of investors. 4) Rising costs of various production factors in domestic market also have some negative impact. In this regard, the Ministry of Commerce believes we need to make preparations and take well-targeted measures, not only to improve the level of foreign capital utilization, but also to find ways to maintain the volume of foreign investment. Thank you for your question.

Wall Street Journal: China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade will be held in the United States in the near future. We are concerned about difficulties and setbacks encountered by Chinese enterprises investing in the U.S. What’s your view on this issue? Besides, what are the expectations of Chinese enterprises about investing in the United States? The last question, can you introduce the overall situation of Chinese enterprises investing in the U.S.? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: In recent years, Chinese investment in the United States has been expanding rapidly both in scale and in field, and has become an important impetus and highlight of the Sino-US economic and trade relations. The flow of China’s investment in the US last year reached US$ 1.811 billion, up by 38.5% year on year. China’s accumulated investment in the US is nearly US$ 9 billion. Chinese investors have established more than 1,700 direct investment enterprises and employed more than 14,000 local residents. China's direct investment in the United States from January to November this year reached $ 1.1 billion, and maintained a double-digit growth of 13%over the previous year. Number of newly established enterprises is 70 more than that of last year, with an increase of 17%. 23 enterprises have invested more than ten million U.S. dollars, seven more than that of last year.

Some Chinese enterprises, however, have encountered problems when investing in the U.S., for example, national security review. These issues have hindered normal trade and investment activities, in particular, mergers and acquisitions. We all know that the Chinese enterprises have been growing and selling products and services around the world in recent years. I just mentioned that Chinese enterprises have invested in 130 countries and regions around the world, and their investment activities, including M&A are usually equity transactions in the open market, and are normal business practices. We have always opposed any country using the so-called security reasons to block Chinese investors, as it is obviously a discriminatory practice. As for what are our expectations for the U.S., we hope that the U.S. side can view Chinese investment objectively and rationally, avoid interference from political factors, and ensure the openness, fairness and transparency of security reviews. We also hope the United States could accelerate the negotiation process of China-US Bilateral Investment Treaty, and enhance the confidence of the Chinese enterprises investing in the U.S.

You already know that the 23rd Session of the China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) will be held in Washington. Vice Premier Wang Qishan will preside over the meeting together with Rebecca Blank, Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Ron Kirk, United States Trade Representative. Since 1st Session of JCCT was held in 1983, China and the US have successfully held 22 sessions. It is fair to say that the JCCT has always been a significant platform for promoting practical cooperation between the two countries and solving specific trade and economic matters through dialogue and negotiation. In this session of the JCCT, China and the U.S., based on the achievements made in the past sessions, will have in-depth exchange of views on important trade and economic issues of common concern. Apart from the issue just mentioned about Chinese investment in the U.S., the Chinese side also hopes the U.S. could take practical measures in some aspects, such as export control policies towards China, trade remedy investigation and intellectual property right protection, so as to establish a cooperative partnership based on mutual respect, mutual benefits and win-win, and maintain a sound development momentum of China-U.S. trade and economic relations. Thank you for your questions.

Economic Information Daily: Central Economic Work Conference recently concluded proposed the target of fostering a batch of consumption growth points with strong spillover effects. What is the plan of MOFCOM in this aspect? Have you considered releasing new policies to promote consumption? Second question is about FTA. China recently engaged in RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) negotiations, and also launched FTA negotiations with Japan and South Korea. Does it mean China is speeding up the implementation of its FTA strategy? Are the above two measures aimed at countering TPP (Trans -Pacific Partnership Agreement) by the US? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: Concerning your question about consumption promotion, MOFCOM is a very important macro-management department responsible for consumption promotion, but not the only one. We need to study and release relevant policies together with other departments. MOFCOM will take necessary measures within the scope of its function. For some measures related to consumption promotion, please pay attention to the National Commercial Work Conference to be held at the end of this month. On that Conference, the senior officials of MOFCOM will propose some ideas and will formulate specific and corresponding policies afterwards. Hope you can follow that event.

Regarding your other question on RCEP, economic integration process in the Asian-Pacific region has seen diversified development, such as TPP, China-Japan-ROK FTA, and RCEP which you just mentioned. Those agreements and negotiations show a firm determination of all the countries in this region to speed up integration and push forward regional economic integration. The Chinese side keeps an open mind to all forms of cooperation dedicated to the purpose of realizing regional economic integration, and advocates that each economy can choose its own path suitable for its national conditions and development level. The Chinese side actively promotes and participates in RCEP negotiation and several FTA negotiations such as China-Japan-ROK FTA negotiation. We believe all the negotiations can be moved forward in parallel, complementing and boosting each other. As Minister Chen Deming said, all roads lead to Rome, all the negotiations can be important platforms for integration and development of the economies in the Asian-Pacific region. Thank you.

Xinhua: I have a question about foreign trade. According to statistics by the Chinese Customs, China’s imports and exports both declined in November. From your point of view, what is the cause of the decline? What is your opinion on the trend of foreign trade in this whole year? Besides, what is your prediction of China’s exports in 2013?

Shen Danyang: Import and export statistics in November show that import and export growth both declined. Some believe this is due to a technical reason. The Research Institute on Foreign Trade under the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation gave me an analysis report and explained the technical reason. Because the growth in the previous month was high, and the growth in the same period of last was also relatively high. High bases form the technical reason. We have made serious analysis, and found that there are other reasons besides the technical element. For the drop in import growth, there are two reasons. One is demand. Domestic demand is still sluggish. Though domestic economic growth has picked up, it is still slow, which curbs demand. China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing issued that China’s PMI import orders index in November was 48.5, which was lower than the PMI export orders index, which is 50.2. Another reason for import growth decline is price. According to customs statistics, the import quantity in November increased by about 3%, but the price declined by 2.9% year on year. So the total import value did not change much. Of course, there are also other reasons for import growth decline. For instance, some countries set obstacles for China’s import of high-tech products, which also contributed to the decrease. As to the main reasons for export growth decrease, three factors that we have frequently mentioned this year, continued to take effect in November. First, world economic growth continued to decrease, and external demand was extremely sluggish. Second, cost of production factors in China continued to rise, and traditional competitive advantages were weakening. Moreover, as import growth has been slower than export growth for some time, surplus in trade and balance of payment have both increased, leading to an accelerated appreciation of the RMB, which has brought new pressure on export growth. Third, trade frictions aggravated and crisis intensified. Since this year, China has encountered 53 trade remedy investigations, involving US$24.2 billion, a 7-fold increase year on year. For instance, AD/CVD investigations were imposed on our PV products by the US, the EU and other countries, which has caused many companies’ suspension of production or bankruptcy.

As to the characteristics of our foreign trade development this year and the prospect and work plans for next year, we will hold the National Work Conference on Commerce at the end of this month. The conference will review past work, and discuss future prospect and work plans. Summary materials will be distributed at the conference., and related articles will be published at the website of MOFCOM. Hope you can follow the event.

Shen Danyang: I can briefly talk about it here. The general situation of this year’s foreign trade is good in three aspects. The first is in stabilizing growth. China realized 7.3%-7.4% export growth, which is obviously higher than the global average, and higher than that of nearly all ten trading blocks and main economies. The share of our export in the global market has further increased from 10.5% last year to 11.1% in this January to September, an increase of 0.6 percentage point. The second is in transforming mode. Over the past few years, China has been speeding up transformation of foreign trade growth mode. A lot of people will ask what is transforming growth mode. In fact, it means changing our advantages in cost and quantity to comprehensive advantages in technology, quality, brand and service. Since this year, no matter in technology, brand, quality or service, our foreign trade and export has been enhanced greatly. In terms of technology, not only the proportion of machinery and electronic products and high-tech products in export increased, but the technological level of non machinery and electronic products is also enhanced. In terms of brand, currently about 20% export enterprises have their own brands. Self-owned brands take up 7.5% of the exports in general trade, and 12% of machinery and electronic products and 15% of hardware and apparatuses. In terms of service, a lot of our enterprises have set up overseas marketing outlets. Data on outward investment, newly increased investment and investment direction show that many enterprises have set up overseas outlets to support after-sale service. Quality has been greatly improved. In the past, when talking about Chinese products, people would think there is always some sort of quality problem. But since this year, there have been few such problems. In the US in particular, complaints on product quality have reduced by a large margin. The third is in adjusting structure. Our foreign trade mix and export mix have been improved drastically. Commodity mix, market structure and trade mode mix have been further optimized.

As to the foreign trade situation next year, according to analysis of main domestic and overseas research institutions, the world economy has been in critical transformation and adjustment period. Next year, the world economic situation will still be full of complexities and uncertainties. Growth will continue to be slow, and all kinds of protectionism will be on the rise. Though the domestic environment for foreign trade is getting better thanks to a series of policy measures of stabilizing growth this year, we still face huge obstacles due to the gloomy external environment. However, we are strongly confident that as long as we follow the spirit of the Central Work Conference on Economy and successfully implement measures on stabilizing growth, transforming mode and adjusting structure, foreign trade will continue to grow in the year to come. Thank you.

China Youth Daily: Recently, some Chinese drivers went on strike in Singapore. What’s MOFCOM’s comment on this? How should we protect the interests and deliver the requests of overseas Chinese workers when exporting labor services? Another question, you just mentioned that China’s online consumption in the first three quarters was 800.2 billion yuan, while Alibaba announced on November 30 that the total sales of Taobao and Tmall in 2012 reached 1,000 billion yuan. I would like to ask why the two figures are inconsistent. Thank you.

Shen Danyang: First, about online sales statistics, it is true that the statistics of sales volume of online shopping and e-commerce are inconsistent. Personally, I think it is mainly caused by different statistical scopes and standards. The figure I just released are based on comprehensive analysis on various statistics by the Department of Electronic Commerce and Informatization and calculations by professional research institutions. I hope we could provide more accurate statistics for you in the future.

About Chinese drivers going on strike in Singapore last month, over 100 Chinese bus drivers employed by Singapore public transport operator SMRT did not report to work due to a pay dispute with the company. MOFCOM attaches great importance to this issue, and has been negotiating with the Singaporean side through various channels. MOFCOM urged the Singaporean side to actively respond to the reasonable demands of Chinese bus drivers for equal pay and treatment, and properly handle the issue to protect the legitimate interests of Chinese contract workers. MOFCOM has always attached great importance to the protection of the rights of Chinese nationals working under contracts overseas. On the one hand, we urge the governments of the labor importing countries to strengthen supervision over employers according to local laws and regulations, and we urge the employers to ensure the interests of Chinese overseas workers. On the other hand, MOFCOM requires foreign labor cooperation enterprises to fully understand the related foreign laws and regulations while undertaking expatriate labor business. When signing labor cooperation agreement with overseas employers, the labor cooperation companies should demand equal pay and treatment with workers from other countries so as to avoid discriminatory treatment, and should reserve the right to claim compensations from the employer. MOFCOM also requires labor cooperation companies to inform Chinese contract workers the normal channels of complaint during their orientation training, so as to better protect the legitimate interests of Chinese contract workers. Thank you.

AFP: I have two questions. First, China and Australia started FTA negotiations in 2005, is there any latest progress? The second question, you just mentioned that China's PV industry has encountered countervailing and anti-dumping investigations from the US and EU, is there any new information from the Ministry of Commerce? Are there any supportive measures to China’s PV industry from the Chinese government? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: About trade frictions in the PV industry, we are making a lot of efforts in consultations with EU and the US, and are supporting domestic industries and enterprises in dealing with it. EU started countervailing and anti-subsidy investigations against Chinese photovoltaic products on September 6 and November 8, 2012 respectively. The case has entered legal investigation procedures. MOFCOM has attached great importance to it, and relevant industrial organizations and enterprises are actively responding to it. MOFCOM’s position is consistent and clear, as stated repeatedly by the ministers and spokesperson. I would like to take this opportunity to stress again that China is willing to resolve frictions with relevant countries through dialogues, consultations and cooperation. We will continue to pay close attention to the investigations and ruling of the case, and reserve our right to take further measures under the WTO framework. We will also take some measures on Chinese Photovoltaic products within MOFCOM’s authority.

As for China-Australia FTA negotiations, leaders of the two countries have attached great importance to the FTA negotiations since they started in 2005. It has been an important issue in China-Australia economic and trade relations, and negotiators from the two parties have also made great efforts to push forward the negotiations through a variety of ways. Generally speaking, the 18 rounds of negotiations carried out so far have yielded positive progress. At the same time, the two parties still have differences on certain issues. We believe that it is very natural and understandable that the two countries have different positions because of different national conditions and stages of development. Since the beginning of 2012, commerce departments of the two countries have also done a lot of fruitful work, and the two parties are exploring solutions to the problems. In February 2013, the main negotiators of the two parties will have a small-scale consultation in Beijing, and the Chinese negotiators are making preparations. We hope that the two parties could find a creative way to further push forward the negotiations. Thank you.

China Securities Journal: It is reported recently that China Machinery and Electronic Products Import and Export Chamber of Commerce said that domestic photovoltaic companies are calling on the Ministry of Commerce to release new policies on promoting exports of photovoltaic products through foreign aid projects, is that true? Moreover, are there any follow-up policies from the Ministry of Commerce to stabilize the development of domestic photovoltaic industry? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: PV industry is one of China's strategic emerging industries, and promoting the international development of China’s PV industry is an important part in MOFCOM’s effort in developing strategic emerging industries. Affected by the global financial crisis and trade protectionism, China’s PV industry has suffered a recession and even losses since last year, and has been in a very difficult period. That is why the government is formulating policies to support the sound development of the photovoltaic industry. The policies involve many departments, and MOFCOM will take part in policymaking in accordance with its duties.

In addition, MOFCOM is mainly working in the following four aspects: First, supporting PV enterprises to deal with anti-dumping and countervailing investigations overseas. Second, facilitating enterprises to explore emerging markets and maintain a reasonable share in the global photovoltaic market. Third, taking measures to regulate the market of photovoltaic products import and export. Fourth, encouraging the photovoltaic industry to strengthen international cooperation, including with EU and US. Thank you.

International Business Daily: It is reported that the Ministry of Commerce has established a statistical monitoring system to ensure market supply and to solve the difficulties in selling vegetables. Would you please introduce the system and its roles? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: MOFCOM has been asked on many occasions about ensuring market supply and solving the difficulties in selling vegetables. In fact, it established a market information service system in recent years exactly to address this issue. The system is established on the basis of monitoring systems at the state, provincial, municipal and county level. First of all, this system is a first-hand information monitoring platform including a dozen of subsystems on urban and rural market statistics, necessities market, major production materials, key circulation enterprises and market emergency management. The monitoring samples have covered all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, 332 prefectures, and 2,135 counties. The system covers almost the whole country, and provides information on demand and supply in every place.

The system is now playing a very positive role, not only because it covers the whole country, but also because it collects and monitors market information, and publishes the information. As you can see, there is a sub-site on business forecast at the website of MOFCOM, which releases all sorts of information monitored by MOFCOM every day, including information of daily necessities market, especially price. Information on changes in farm produce prices is also released through TV, newspapers and SMS. Daily visit of the business forecast website has exceeded 10 million times. Every year, the website releases 300,000 pieces of information, which are quoted by 1,200 websites, over 200 newspapers and over 50 television stations. Therefore, the function of the monitoring system is collecting and monitoring statistics, and releasing information timely so as to effectively reduce information asymmetry.

The system has played a very positive role. Firstly, it improves early detection, early warning and early response. Information asymmetry is a big problem in market supply and demand, particularly in the supply and demand of agricultural products, and the system could help solve this problem. Secondly, it matches production and marketing information. Thirdly, it contributes to balancing supply and demand. As the price difference of agricultural product in different regions could be found in this website, it could stimulate circulation of agricultural products and by-products in different regions, and in this way promote the overall balance in market supply and demand.

Shen Danyang: That concludes the Press Conference today. Thank you!



All information published in this website is authentic in Chinese. English is provided for reference only.