Dear friends from the media,
Good morning. Welcome to the press conference. I’ll brief you the situation of commercial performance in January-September and that of in September, and answer your questions.

I. Market Performance

Since this year, the domestic consumption market has operated smoothly on the whole and played an important role in stabilizing economic growth. According to the monitoring of the MOFCOM, in January-September, 5,000 major retail businesses have accumulated an increase of 3.7% year on year, 0.1 percentage points faster than the first half of the year. Among these, the sales volume in September went up 4.2% year on year, 0.2 percentage points faster than in August, surging to a new peak since this year. According to the statistics of the State Statistics Bureau, in January-August, the retail sales of the national social consumer goods accumulated to RMB21.1 trillion, up 10.3% year on year, remaining the same growth as that of the first half of this year. The consumption market mainly showed the following highlights:

1. The new business enjoyed a rapid development. The retail of on-line commodities remained a high-speed growth. In January-September, the retails of online enterprises monitored by the MOFCOM grew up 25.3% year on year, higher than that of stores, supermarkets and shopping mall by 24.3, 18.5 and 17.8 percentage points respectively. In other retail businesses, the sales volume of shopping centers and convenience stores enjoyed a fast development, 2.9 and 2.8 percentage points higher than the general growth of the retail.

2. Living consumption continued to grow. Since this year, the real estate in many places has been hot, driving the rapid development of the consumption of relevant housing commodities. In January-September, the sales volume of living commodities of enterprises monitored by the MOFCOM increased 0.5 percentage points over the same period last year. Among these, the sales volume of building materials, furniture and household appliances increased 10.6%, 11.3% and 10.2% respectively year on year,

3. The sales of the automobile commodities speeded up obviously. According to the statistics by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the automobile sales volume in January-September increased 13.2% year on year, 5.5 percentage points faster over the first half of this year. In September, the sales went up 26.1% year on year, 1.9 percentage points faster than in August. Among these, the sales of SUV and MPV went up 54.2% and 37.3% year on year respectively. The growth of the sales of new energy automobile dropped, but still realizing a relatively high growth of 43.8% year on year.

4. The service consumption hotspots continued to spring up. With faster and faster upgrading of the consumption structure, the consumer demands of mass catering and entertainment continued to grow. In September, the growth of the sales income of western fast food and Chinese fast food enterprises mainly monitored by the MOFCOM is 12.4 and 7 percentage points higher than those of the western and Chinese dinner. The income of film box office entered a stably increasing stage. In January-September, the income of national film box office reached RMB35.54 billion, up 8.6% year on year. The tourism industry maintained its high boom. The tourism market in summer holidays and festivals was in great demand and the high-quality tourism products were welcomed in the market.

5. Consumer price rose slightly. In January-September, CPI was up 2.0% year on year, 0.1 percentage points lower than that of the first half of this year. In September, CPI was up 1.9%, 0.6 percentage points higher than that of last month, marking the first expansion of the price growth in the past five months. In January-September, in 36 large and medium size cities monitored by the Ministry of Commerce, the prices of agricultural products were up 4.9% year on year, 2.6 percentage points slower than those in the first half of this year. Among these, in September, the prices of agricultural products went up 0.2% year and year and up 2.5% month on month, concluding a decreasing situation for six months in a row. The price of pork went up 3.3% year on year, 1 percentage points lower than that of last month. The price of vegetables increased 2.6% year on year and the price of eggs went down 5.4% year on year, 4.2 percentage points lower than that of last month. The price of beef and mutton decreased 2.6% and 6.9% year on year respectively.

II. Foreign Trade

According to the Customs statistics, China’s total import and export in January-September reached RMB17.53 trillion, down 1.9% year on year. Among them, exports amounted to RMB10.06 trillion, down 1.6%; imports RMB7.47 trillion, down 2.3%. The surplus was RMB2.59 trillion, up 0.6%. It shows the following features:

1. In terms of the growth rate, the quarterly decreasing amplitude tends to be narrowing. In the second and third quarters, China’s import decreased 0.2% slightly and the export increased 1.1%, 7, 8.3 percentage points lower than those of the first quarter.

2. With regard to the trade mode, the exports of conventional trade continued to grow and the proportion was improved. In January-September, the trade export reached RMB5.54 billion, up 0.1%, accounting for 55.0% of China’s foreign trade, 1.3 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year.

3. In terms of enterprises, private enterprises are still the main force of export. In January-September, the exports of private enterprises reached RMB4.68 trillion, taking up 46.5% of China’s total foreign trade exports, 1.6 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year. The exports of foreign-funded enterprises and state-owned enterprises fell down 4.3% and 7.0% respectively year on year.

4. With regard to the market pattern, the exports to traditional markets like EU and Japan was better than the average level. In January-September, China’s exports to EU and Japan saw a positive growth of 1.8% and 0.5% respectively. Exports to some countries along the “belt and road” grew positively, and those to India, Thailand and Russia increased 7.8%, 6.6%, and 14.0% respectively year on year.

5. On commodity structure, export of large complete sets of communication device maintained positive growth. In January-September, the export of large complete sets equipment increased 3%, among which the export of communication device went up 10%.

6. On new business mode of foreign trade, cross-border e-commerce sustained a rapid growth. The cross-border e-commerce, market procurement trade, and foreign trade comprehensive service enterprises maintained the momentum of rapid growth and now they are becoming new growth engines of foreign trade.

7. On imports, both the quality and efficiency were further raised. In January-September, the quantity of 10 kinds of staple commodities such as crude oil, iron ore, natural gas, copper and copper concentrate increased while their prices decreased. The payment reduced RMB427.4 billion totally. This was conducive to reducing the costs of enterprises and improving the benefits.

III. Foreign Investment in China

China’s foreign investment attraction in January-September has the following characteristics:

1. The overall national absorption of FDI sustained a growth. In January-September, a total of 21,292 newly-established foreign-invested enterprises were approved, going up 12.2% year on year. The actually utilized FDI amounted to RMB609.03 billion, up 4.2% year on year (data of bank, insurance and security excluded). In September, 2,754 newly-established foreign-invested enterprises were approved, going up 27.9% year on year, and the actually utilized foreign capital reached RMB 60.2 billion, increasing 1.2% year on year.

2. The absorption of FDI in service sector maintained a growth and that in hi-tech service continued to increase. In January-September, the actually utilized FDI in service sector was RMB 430.7 billion, up 9% year on year, taking up 70.7% of the national total. Among them, that in transport, warehouse and postal service, information transmission, computer service and software, and lease and business service sector stood at RMB 28.86 billion, RMB 43.67 billion and RMB 75.44 billion respectively, going up 92%, 166.7% and 73.8% respectively year on year. The actually utilized FDI in hi-tech service sector reached RMB 73.88 billion, going up 95% year on year. Among these, the information service, R&D and the service of design, and transformation of scientific and technological achievements service had comparatively high utilization of foreign capital, increasing by 173.2%, 38.3% and 54.9% respectively year on year.

In manufacturing, the actually utilized FDI in pharmaceutical industry, general equipment manufacturing, transport equipment manufacturing and special equipment manufacturing was up 67.4%, 12.2%, 9.7% and 4.6% respectively.

3. The investment from major sources kept growing. In January-September, the actual input of the investment from the top ten countries and regions (calculated by actual input value of foreign capital) amounted to RMB 574.62 billion, taking up 94.4% of the total national actual use of foreign capital, going up 4.3% year on year. Among these, those from the US, Germany, UK, Sweden and ROK grew by 67.1%, 118.9%, 95.8%, 51.7% and 28.3% respectively. Over the same period of time, the actual input of foreign capital from 28 EU countries reached RMB 50.59 billion, up 48.7% year on year. In September, the actual input of foreign capital from 28 EU countries reached RMB 8.03 billion, up 223.5% year on year.

4. The absorption of foreign investment from the western region grew rapidly, and that from the eastern region is stable. In January-September, the actual use of foreign investment in the western region was RMB 41.76 billion, up 18.2% year on year. Among these, that in transport, warehouse and postal service, information transmission, computer service and software, and lease and business service sector was up 278%, 285.9%, 145.5% and 91.3% respectively. The actual use of foreign investment in the eastern region reached RMB 536 billion, up 8% year on year. The actual use of foreign investment in the Yangtze River Economic Belt was RMB 284.6 billion, up 8.3% year on year. In September, the actual use of foreign investment in the Yangtze River Economic Belt was RMB 33.77 billion, up 14.8% year on year.

5. There are a large number of newly set large enterprises with added capital. In January-September, there were 550 large foreign invested enterprises with a total investment amount over US$ 100 million, and about 340 enterprises with more than US$100 million added capital. Among them, there were manufacturing enterprises which engage in the manufacturing of new materials, new energy automobiles and batteries, aircraft components, medical instruments, industrial automatic control and integrated circuit and chips; among them, there were also service enterprises that engage in medical care, old-age care, e-commerce, financial service, cloud computing, R & D of bio-fuel and R &D and the application of the technology of the Internet of Things.

6. The actual use of foreign capital by foreign M&A continued to increase. In January-September, a total of 1066 newly-established foreign-invested enterprises by M & A were approved with an actual use of foreign capital RMB 114.49 billion, up 4.9% and 17.2% respectively year on year, taking up 5% and 18.8% respectively of their total figures.

IV. Outward Investment and Economic Cooperation

Foreign direct investment. In January-September, the Chinese domestic investors carried out non-financial direct investment in about 6,535 outward enterprises in 160 countries and regions, with an accumulative investment of RMB 882.78 billion (US$ 134.22 billion), up 53.7% year on year. In September, the foreign direct investment was RMB 106.29 billion (US$16.16 billion), up 56.9% year on year.

Foreign contractual projects. In January-September, the turnover of the foreign contractual projects was RMB 658.7 billion (US$ 100.15 billion), down 0.7% year on year. The newly-signed contractual value was RMB 972.29 billion (US$ 147.83 billion), up 7.4% year on year. The turnover completed in September was US$ 10.15 billion, down 16.3% year on year, and the newly-signed contractual value was US$ 15.06 billion, up 19.6% year on year.

Foreign labor cooperation. In January-September, China has sent all kinds of laborers abroad with a number of 344,000. In September, China sent 38,000 laborers abroad. By the end of September, China’s dispatched laborers numbered 982,000.
In January-September, China’s outward investment and economic cooperation mainly presented the following features:
1. The scale of outward investment continued to expand. In January-September, China's non-financial foreign direct investment reached US$ 134.22 billion, with an increase of 53.7% . Compared with last year’s US$ 121.42 billion, there are US$ 12.8 billion added, and US$ 39.13 billion higher than the total assimilation of foreign investment in the same period (US$ 95.09 billion). A rapid growth is the main theme of China’s outward investment.

2. Newly-signed contractual projects increased, and its share in the relevant countries along the line of "Belt and Road" was high. In January-September, 512 foreign contractual projects were newly signed with a contract volume over US$ 50 million, 33 more than that in the same period last year. The accumulated contract volume was US$ 124.74 billion, accounting for 84.4% of the total newly-signed contracts. Among these, the Chinese enterprises newly signed almost 4,191 foreign contractual projects in 61 relevant countries along the line of the "Belt and Road", with a contractual value of US$ 74.56 billion, accounting for 50.4% of the total newly signed contractual value of China's foreign contractual projects in the same period.

3. Outward investment and M & A was active with its fields expanding continuously. In January-September, the Chinese enterprises carried out 521 overseas M & A with the actual transaction volume US$ 67.44 billion, covering 18 industrial categories in 67 countries and regions. It has exceeded the total M & A value of the whole 2015 (US$ 54.44 billion). In terms of the related countries (regions), the U.S. boasted US$ 16.24 billion, the biggest transaction volume of M & A conducted by Chinese enterprises, covering 119 M & A projects; the second was Cayman Islands with US$ 15.71 billion; the third was Hong Kong, China with US$ 9.32 billion. In terms of the industrial distribution, there were 133 M & A projects related to manufacturing, with a volume of US$ 16.1 billion; 81 projects were related to information transmission, software and information technology service, with a volume of US$ 15.48 billion; in terms of the enterprises, the transaction volume of local enterprises accounted for 86.6%.

4. Overseas trade and economic cooperation zones were steadily promoted. By the end of September, 77 cooperation zones under construction established by Chinese enterprises in 36 countries began to take shape, with a combined investment of US$23.39 billion. 1,467 enterprises have settled in, with a total output value of US$66.51 billion. US$2.53 billion tax was turned over to the host country and 197,000 local jobs were created. Among these, the total investment of 56 cooperation zones under construction in 20 countries along the “belt and road” reached US$17.9 billion. 1,045 enterprises were settled in, with a total output value of US$47.54 billion. US$960 million tax was turned over to the host country and 163,000 local jobs were created.

V. Trade in Service and Service Outsourcing

Trade in service. In January-August, China’s trade in service enjoyed a sound momentum of development. China’s service import and export volume reached RMB3.4714 trillion, with an increase of 24% year on year. Among these, China’s service export was RMB1.1893 trillion, up 11.2% year on year and the service import was RMB2.2821trillion, up 31.9% year on year. Major features are listed as follows:

1. The size continued to expand and its proportion in foreign trade was steadily improved. Since 2016, China’s imports and exports of service have maintained a double-digit growth. Among these, the growth in March-August has exceeded 20%. By the end of August, China’s trade in service has taken up 18.1% of the total foreign trade, 2.7 percentage points higher than that in 2015.

2. Exports in traditional industry were still dominant and high value-added exports grew rapidly. In January-August, service exports in the three traditional industries of tourism, transport and construction registered RMB675 billion, taking up 56.8% of China’s total service exports and were still dominant. On the other hand, high value-added service exports represented by computer, technology and advertisement grew rapidly. Among these, exports of computer service, technology service, maintenance and repair service, and advertisement service registered RMB 107.6 billion, RMB54.7 billion, RMB23.3 billion and RMB21 billion, up 22.7%, 23.1%, 58% and 71% respectively year on year.

3. Service imports grew rapidly and the deficit of trade in service expanded. In January-August, China’s service imports amounted to RMB2.2821 trillion, going up 31.9%. Among these, the travel service (including tourism and studying abroad) import reached RMB1.496 trillion, up 50% year on year, marking the major reason that drives the service import. Affected by this, our deficit of trade in service in January-August reached RMB1.0928 trillion, with an increase of RMB277.3 billion year on year.

Service outsourcing. According to the statistics of the MOFCOM service outsourcing management information system, in January-September, the service outsourcing contractual volume signed by the Chinese enterprises was RMB653.58 billion and the executed value was RMB452.92 billion, with an increase of 14.5% and 10.3% year on year respectively. Among these, the contractual value of the offshore service outsourcing was RMB440.23 billion and the executed value was RMB295.02 billion, with an increase of 16.8% and 7.8% year on year respectively. Some features are presented as follows:

1. China’s business in the world major contract market saw a rapid growth. The US and the EU are China’s major offshore contract markets. In January-September, the executed contract value of the offshore service outsourcing undertaken by Chinese enterprises in US was RMB63.68 billion, going up 0.8%; and that in the EU was RMB46.54 billion, going up 12.3%. Hong Kong region is still a major contract source. In January-September, the contract value reached RMB51.91 billion, going up 29.2% year on year.

2. China’s service outsourcing cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries sustained sound momentum. In January-September, the executed contract value of service outsourcing undertaken by Chinese enterprises in countries along the “belt and road” was RMB47.16 billion, basically the same over the same period of last year. Chinese enterprises strengthened cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries in information technology service and industrial design and the executed contract value of service outsourcing stood at RMB1.87 billion, going up 26.9%.

3. The eastern coastal provinces and cities continue to lead offshore service outsourcing development. In January-September, the executed contract value of offshore service outsourcing undertaken by the eastern Chinese coastal provinces and cities registered RMB275.22 billion, up 7.9% year on year, taking up 93.3% of the national total.

4. Provinces and Municipalities along the central and upstream of Yangtze River Economic Belt grew fast. In January-September, the contract volume of offshore service outsourcing undertaken by the provinces and municipalities along Yangtze River Economic Belt was RMB 222.52 billion with the executive value RMB 178.37 billion, up 5.8% and 3.9% year on year, accounting for 50.5% and 60.5% respectively of the national total.

5. The industrial agglomeration effect of service outsourcing demonstration cities are obvious. In January-September, the contract value of service outsourcing undertaken by service outsourcing demonstration cities amounted to RMB440.23 billion, up 17.4% year on year, taking up 93.9% of the national total; the executed contract value was RMB295.02 billion, up 5.4% year on year, taking up 93.3% of the national total.

VI. China and Georgia Conclude FTA Negotiation Substantially

On October 5, Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng met with the Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili, witnessed by whom Gao signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Substantially Concluding China-Georgia FTA Negotiation with Dmitry Kumsishvili, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Sustainable Development of Georgia on behalf of the governments of the two countries.

China-Georgia FTA is the first free trade agreement that China conducts in Eurasian region, reflecting the goal of comprehensive contents, high level and balanced interests. On its opening level, the two sides have made most goods trade zero tariff, promised opening market with high quality to service departments, improved trade rules and strengthened their cooperation in major fields. The agreement covers 17 chapters like trade in goods, trade in service, IPR and rules, including new topics of e-commerce, competition and environment. The FTA will be officially signed and will come into force after the domestic legal procedures of both sides are completed.

Located along the borderline of Europe and Asia, Georgia is an important juncture of the “Silk Road Economic Belt”. The signing of FTA will further consolidate and promote China-Georgia trade and economic relation, improve people’s life and serve as a model to lead the “belt and road” construction and layout of Eurasian FTA.

The above is the major situation in today’s press conference. Now, you are welcome to ask any questions.

Phoenix TV: The USITC has been investigating whether the US aluminum industry is a victim of dumping. A hearing was held, attended by related Chinese companies. Could MOFCOM share more information and its approach to the case? My second question is that President Duterte of the Philippines is visiting China very soon. Could you brief us on China-Philippines trade in the past few years? What will be done to enhance bilateral commercial cooperation through the visit? Will there be broad directions or major projects? What about the amount?

Shen Danyang: Regarding your first question, last April, the USITC instituted the 332 investigation into the competitiveness of and the competition facing the US aluminum industry. On Sept. 29th, the USITC held a hearing on the investigation. Apart from the US side, representatives from China, the EU, Canada and Russia were also present. China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association attended the hearing and introduced the latest developments of China’s aluminum industry and related policies. Staking out facts and positions and responding to concerns, questions and criticisms regarding the Chinese industry from various quarters, it called on everybody to work out sound solutions through dialogue and cooperation to the various challenges facing the industry.

The aluminum industry worldwide has run into some troubles. Some problems are less generic than others. Both domestic and international factors are at play. We believe that in the broad context of deepening globalization, a real solution to these problems calls for mutually beneficial cooperation of all the parties. Unfounded smearing, hype or unilateral use of trade restrictive measures is simply not helpful.

As for the upcoming visit of the Philippine President, MOFCOM takes President Duterte’s visit very seriously and is working actively with related departments of the Philippines to prepare the commercial elements of the visit.

China will strengthen the synergies of the trade and economic strategies of the two countries, including exploring widened avenues for bilateral trade, promoting and encouraging more Philippines-bound business investment, and enhancing cooperation in among others, infrastructure and personnel training. Such cooperation will be tangible. The widely followed import of Philippine tropical fruits will also be covered.

In brief, China stands ready to work with the Philippines to continue to take advantage of bilateral trade and economic mechanisms, plan for future coordinated cooperation and pursue commercial cooperation across the board in an orderly way. Through the visit, Chin looks to further cement and strengthen bilateral commercial ties, continuously upgrade cooperation scope and standards, and deliver more tangible benefits to the two countries and peoples. Thank you for your questions.

China Daily: Last September, the State Council issued the Guidance for Actively Promoting International Capacity and Equipment Manufacturing Cooperation. What has MOFCOM done in the past year to implement the Guidance? What is the initial result?

Shen Danyang: It has been over a year since the release of the Guidance for Actively Promoting International Capacity and Equipment Manufacturing Cooperation by the State Council. In the past year or so, in order to substantially advance international capacity and equipment manufacturing cooperation, MOFCOM has worked with related departments to implement the Guidance through measures in six areas, namely, strengthened macro-guidance, enhanced policy support, major bilateral and multilateral cooperation, improved statistical monitoring, better public services, and streamlining and delegation, with fairly remarkable initial results.
In the first nine months of the year, ODI in non-financial sectors hit US$ 134.22 billion, higher than that of the whole 2015, up 53.7% year on year. The value of new overseas engineering contracts grew 7.4%. Amidst the rapid growth in outbound investment cooperation, international capacity cooperation made great headway. This year up to September, outbound investment in information transmission, software and IT services increased by 297.7% year on year. The number for manufacturing was 168.1%. In the power sector, the value of oversees contractual engineering was up 32% over the same period of last year. Mega-projects in railway, steel, electricity, communications, chemicals, electrolytic aluminum and equipment manufacturing proceeded smoothly. Chinese companies’ infrastructure undertakings in railway, road, port, airport, energy and power drove the exports of Chinese equipment for power, rail transport, communications electronics and mining and took Chinese equipment, technical standards, design code, and development philosophy to African countries, setting the stage for China-Africa capacity cooperation. At the same time, as major carriers of capacity cooperation, overseas trade and economic cooperation zones are taking off. As of the end of September, Chinese companies had funded and built 77 trade and economic cooperation zones, covering light industry and textile, home appliances, steel, construction materials, chemicals, auto, machinery and mineral processing with a total investment of US$ 23.39 billion. These figures show that after year-long efforts, we’ve made concrete first steps in international capacity and equipment manufacturing cooperation. Thank you for the questions.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun: In September, China's exports suffered a major decline. What are the reasons? During the G20 Summit held in September, factories in Hangzhou were all shut down. Does the decline in exports have anything to do with this?

Shen Danyang: Exports in September did decline slightly. However, it had nothing to do with the G20 Hangzhou Summit you mentioned. Our analysis shows that there may be two technical reasons. One is the high base last year, and the other is that September this year had one working day less than last year.

I would like to take this opportunity to briefly discuss the issue of exports this year. This year, China's foreign trade situation, especially the international market situation, is very complex and uncertain, with increasing unstable factors. The downward pressure continues to increase. You may have noted that on 27 September, the World Trade Organization lowered its projected growth rate of global trade in goods for 2016 from the 1.7 per cent it had forecast in April to 2.8 per cent, the lowest rate ever projected by the organization since the global financial crisis. This indicated that this year would be the toughest year for world trade. Therefore, we have been very sober-minded about the outlook of foreign trade this year. We understand that the difficulties facing foreign trade will not be short-term; and that to achieve the goal of stabilizing foreign trade throughout the year we still have a long way to go. We are also psychologically prepared for some fluctuations in import and export. It is normal for trade figures to fluctuate from month to month. But we need to appreciate that as foreign trade promoting and stabilizing policies gradually take effect, foreign trade structure is being further optimized, while new driving forces for trade development are gathering momentum. The positive trend of China's foreign trade remains unchanged. Thank you for your question.

CCTV: Recently, the State Council promulgated several opinions to promote steady progress in foreign trade, and introduced a proactive import policy with a focus on supporting the import of advanced equipment and technology. What are the new implementation measures and results in this regard?

Shen Danyang: To implement the State Council's Several Opinions on Promoting Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Commerce, together with the NDRC and the Ministry of Finance, revised and promulgated on September 9 the Catalog of Encouraged Imported Technologies and Products (2016 edition), which was put forward by the State Council on September 1, 2009. The State Council's "Opinions" do not just involve exports, but also stress the need to continue to expand imports. We have done a lot to implement a proactive import policy. One of our efforts is to support the import of advanced equipment and advanced technology. The newly revised catalog focuses on equipment manufacturing, the new generation of information technology, high-end materials, energy saving and environmental protection as well as other key industries. You may take a look at the new catalog. The first part of it, consisting of a total of 206 items, is to encourage the introduction of advanced technology; the second part is to encourage imports of important equipment and key components, with a total of 134 items; the third part is to encourage the development of key industries, a total of 66. Imports increased by 2.2% in September, with import growth of advanced equipment and technology products being a key factor, such as imports of integrated circuits, which went up by 6.1% and imports of automated data processing equipment and components up by 2.2%. I believe that the introduction of the new catalog will help encourage enterprises to expand the import of advanced technology, important equipment and key components, improve the technology level of enterprises and product quality, and promote the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure. Thank you for your question.

Global Times: China launched a safeguard measures investigation on sugar imports on September 22. Brazilian media believe that this has brought a lot of pressure on the Brazilian side, fearing that China's investigation results would deal a heavy blow to the Brazilian sugar industry, thus hampering China-Brazil trade and economic cooperation. What is MOFCOM’s response to this?

Shen Danyang: The sugar safeguard measures investigation you mentioned was initiated by the Ministry of Commerce after it received petitions by the Chinese sugar industry. We all know that WTO members have the right to initiate investigations under conditions consistent with the Safeguards Agreement. China's investigating authorities will investigate the case in strict accordance with the relevant Chinese laws and regulations and WTO rules. Stakeholders, including the Brazilian side you mentioned, can express their concerns and claims fully in the investigation process. Related concerns and claims will be considered and dealt with in a fair and equitable manner. There is no need for excessive worry or hype over the case.

It is worth mentioning that trade and economic cooperation between China and Brazil enjoy good momentum and a broad prospect. During the recently-held Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng and Minister Pereira for Industry, Foreign Trade and Services of Brazil signed an MOU on bilateral cooperation on trade in services between relevant bodies, establishing service trade as a priority the two governments will work at. This will facilitate practical cooperation on key areas including, among others, IT, service outsourcing, project consulting, as well as traditional Chinese medical care and bring China-Brazil commercial cooperation to a higher level. We have every reason to look forward to the good results from the trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. Thank you.

Xinhua News Agency: What is MOFCOM’s comment on the results of the defense put forward by Tiangong International Co., Ltd. versus the European Commission’s preliminary ruling on anti-dumping investigation into hot-rolled steel made in China?

Shen Danyang: In a preliminary ruling announced on October 8, the European Commission decided to impose interim anti-dumping duties on imports of hot-rolled steel from China for six months, with the exclusion of cool steel and high-speed steel products. In other words, anti-dumping duties will not be imposed on cool steel and high-speed steel products. According to the ruling, the European Commission claimed it was a result of the defense by Tiangong International Co., Ltd.

Not just Tiangong, but also all tool steel and high-speed steel producers and sellers from China will enjoy the exclusion. It tells us that as the main respondents to anti-dumping investigations, enterprises can get good outcomes when they respond in an active and meaningful way. It is only the preliminary ruling and usually there is half a year before the announcement of a final ruling. We hope that responding enterprises in China will make continued efforts, build on the results and strive for more good news. The government of China will continue to vigorously support Chinese companies in actively responding to foreign anti-dumping investigations. As the world economy remains sluggish and trade protectionism raises its ugly head, anti-dumping and countervailing and other trade remedy measures facing Chinese exports are on the rise. We expect Chinese enterprises to have no hesitation in defending their lawful rights and interests with the weapon of law.

In the meantime, we ask WTO members including the EU to comply with WTO rules and guarantee Chinese enterprises’ right to defend. We’d like to take this opportunity to reiterate that Chinese government is against trade protectionism and advocates a prudent, restrained and rule-based use of trade remedy measures. Any Trade-related measure should be adopted in accordance with WTO rules in a fair and transparent way.

Economic Information Daily: You mentioned earlier that automobile sales rose by 13.2% in the first three quarters, particularly fast in Q3. Why is that and will the momentum continue? Would you please comment on the results of the pilot parallel imports of cars?

Shen Danyang: You may have noticed from the figures I gave you that car sales nationwide have picked up speed since the beginning of this year. We hold there are mainly three reasons. First, the rise is driven by domestic consumption restructuring. With China at a critical juncture of consumption upgrading, people have a growing appetite for development- and entertainment-oriented consumption and the growth momentum of spending on cars is in line with the rule of economics. Second, that stimulus initiatives on buying specific cars are running out has a bearing on the rise of car sales. The 50% purchase tax cut for cars with engine capacity less than 1.6 liters starting from the end of last year will expire at the end of this year. Unleashing spending potential before the expiry date of the initiatives is set to boost auto sales. We think this may explain why auto sales in Q3 grew faster than in the first half of this year as is shown by figures.

As for your second question, the overall result for the parallel import pilot for cars we laid out in the four FTZs in Shanghai, Tianjin, Fujian and Guangdong is good. It has not only met consumers’ diverse and multi-tier demands for cars but also made key progress in breaking the single model of franchised dealership, thus laying a sound foundation for speeding up reform on auto distribution system. From January to September this year, the actual imports by enterprises in pilot areas had increased to 39,000, more than eight times the annual sales. That speaks to the satisfactory outcome of the pilot. Approved by the State Council, MOFCOM and six ministries have recently decided to expand the pilot to relevant areas in Sichuan, Xinjiang, Dalian and Ningbo. In the meantime, guidance and supervision will be strengthened substantially in these pilot areas with quality traceability and after-sale services system at the heart so as to prevent and control risk in all its forms. We have also restricted the maximum amount of eligible enterprises in each new pilot area to five. Thank you.

International Business Daily: On 6 October, the WTO Appellate Body issued its rulings regarding the EU’s anti-dumping measures on biodiesel from Argentina, deciding that the EU’s calculation method of the cost does not conform to WTO rules.

Shen Danyang: On 6 October, the WTO Appellate Body issued its report in the case of the EU’s anti-dumping measures on biodiesel from Argentina. According to the ruling, the EU authorities did not calculate the cost of the investigated products on the basis of records kept by the exporter or producer under investigation, and did not use the cost of production in the producing country (Argentina) when constructing the normal value of biodiesel, so it violated the WTO Anti-dumping Agreement. The ruling further clarified relevant rules on the construction of normal value and the identification of dumping, which is consistent with the stand of China as a third party in this case. China welcomes the ruling. Thank you for your question.

China News Agency: In July this year, the spokesperson once said that market regulation on prepaid cards will be strengthened and relevant legislation will be established and improved. What has MOFCOM done in this regard and what progress has been made?

Shen Danyang: To address the much talked-about disorder of prepaid cards market, relevant laws and regulations should be established or improved. To this end, we are working closely with competent authorities. For instance, the Administrative Measures for Single-Purpose Commercial Prepaid Cards is being revised to step up regulation on prepaid funds. But to complete this work it takes time.

In response to the media report on prepaid cards market in the first half of this year, we immediately took the following four measures. First, we carried out special investigations into the situation in some provinces and municipalities. Based on the investigation results, prepaid cards market was generally stable. The scale of card issuance was in a steady decline. The purchase of cards was mostly rational. And sporadic cashing incidents were handled appropriately. Second, with regard to possible “avoid debt escape” incidents and the potential risks resulted from illegal fund-raising, we carefully studied this issue along with inter-ministerial office on illegal fund-raising and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and jointly issued risk warning. Third, we gave instructions to local commercial departments to actively cooperate with relevant authorities to step up supervision and inspection, and screen and defuse latent risks under the leadership of local governments. Fourth, we improved information system of prepaid cards management, collected data on the scale of card issuance and prepaid funds balance, and conducted compliance assessment of relevant companies. We will disclose above information at appropriate time through our WeChat public account.

Next, we will expedite the revision of Administrative Measures for Single-Purpose Commercial Prepaid Cards, and crack down on any violations of law in cooperation with competent authorities. Thank you.

Global Times (Chinese edition): According to the statistical result of a US financial statistical body, the value of Chinese companies’ overseas M&A in the first nine months this year exceeded US$ 170 billion, which has a gap with the data released by MOFCOM. What’s your comment on the data of this US body? Does the discrepancy stem from differences of statistical caliber and scope?

Shen Danyang: I have explained at previous press conferences why there are such discrepancies. Based on our analysis, the main reason for the big differences between China’s official data and that of foreign think tanks, research institutes and consultancies is that those foreign agencies mainly obtain information from the internet, research reports and industry reports of various sorts. That is to say they mainly gather the disclosed information about Chinese companies’ planned outbound investment. Some of these investment projects may be real, but some of them may be still far away from implementation and face lots of uncertainties. For instance, the projects may be only at the business negotiation stage or still need to pass security reviews of China and the host country. This is where the discrepancy mainly comes from. Of course, there are also other factors, such as caliber differences on regions and investors, etc. Owing to the differences in the nature of the data, statistical principles and statistical content, there are gaps between our official data and that of foreign think tanks and research institutes. We believe these two sets of data are not comparable. Thank you.

Shen Danyang: This is the end of today’s conference. Thank you.