Dear friends from the press, good morning. Welcome to the regular press conference. Today, I have three pieces of information to release.

I. China’s Assimilation of FDI in January-April 2018

A total of 19,002 newly-established foreign-funded enterprises were approved in January-April 2018, up 95.4% year on year; the actually utilized FDI registered 286.78 billion yuan, up 0.1% year on year (equivalent to US$43.6 billion, up 2% year on year).

In April, a total of 4,662 newly-established foreign-funded enterprises were approved, up 39.5% year on year; the actually utilized FDI registered 59.24 billion yuan, down 1.1% year on year (equivalent to US$9.09 billion, up 1.9% year on year). The assimilation of FDI in January-April 2018 presented features listed as below:

1.FDI in high-tech manufacturing sustained rapid growth. The actual use of FDI in high-tech sector grew up 20.2% year on year, taking up 20.8%. That in high-tech manufacturing registered 29.6 billion yuan, up 79.5% year on year. Among these, that in medicine manufacturing, electronic and communication equipment manufacturing, and medical instrument and meter manufacturing grew up 31.1%, 70.7% and 513.6% respectively year on year. The actually utilized FDI in high-tech service sector reached 30.11 billion yuan. Among these, R&D and design service grew up 14.3% year on year.

2.Assimilation of FDI in central and western China continued to increase. The actually used FDI in central China and western China came to 21.12 billion yuan and 19.31 billion respectively, up 47.2% and 20.6% respectively year on year.

3.The investment sources were centralized and investment from Singapore, ROK, Japan, UK and Macao increased. In January-April, the actual input mainly centered on Singapore, ROK, Japan, UK and Macao, up 53.6%, 57.2%, 7.6%, 63.2% and 77.3% respectively year on year. That from ASEAN countries and countries along the Belt and Road routes grew up 57.7% and 57.2% respectively year on year.

II. China’s Outward Investment Cooperation in January-April 2018

In January-April 2018, the homeland investors’ non-financial FDI in 2,459 overseas enterprises from 144 countries and regions amounted to US$35.58 billion, up 34.9% year on year, rising for 6 consecutive months. The turnover of the overseas contracted projects amounted to US$44.83 billion, up 13.9% year on year, and the total value of the newly signed contracts was US$61.39 billion, staying unchanged compared with that of the same period last year. The number of the labor service personnel dispatched overseas reached 128,000. At the end of April, the labor service personnel dispatched overseas had amounted to 983,000, increasing by 65,000 than that of the same period last year.

The outward investment cooperation in January-April 2018 kept a stable and healthy development and mainly showed the following four features:

1. The investment cooperation in the countries along the Belt and Road routes was actively promoted. In January-April, the new investment in countries along the Belt and Road reached US$4.67 billion, up 17.3% year on year. The total value of the newly signed contractual projects in countries along the Belt and Road line amounted to US$28.83 billion, taking up 47% of China’s total value of overseas contractual projects over the same period of time; the turnover was US$ 24.2 billion, taking up 54% of the total.

2. The structure of foreign investment industry was constantly optimized and irrational investment was further restrained. In January-April, the outward investment mainly flew to lease and commercial service industry, mining industry, manufacturing and information transmission, software and information technology services industry, taking up 28.5%, 16.2%, 14.9% and 6.5% respectively. No outward investment project was added in real estate, culture, sports and entertainment areas.

3. The eastern region was still the main force of the foreign investment and the performance the provinces and cities along the Yangtze Economic Belt was remarkable. In January-April, the outward investment of the 10 provinces and cities in the eastern region amounted to US$18.63 billion, up 50.5% year on year, accounting for 74.6% of the local regions’ outward investment. The investment of provinces and cities along the Yangtze Economic Belt reached US$10.84 billion, up 54.2% compared with that of the same period last year, taking up 30.5% of the total outward direct investment.

4. There are many newly signed big contractual foreign projects, obviously pulling up the export. In January-April, the value of 214 overseas contractual projects was over US$50 million, totaling US$51.81 billion, accounting for 84.4% of the total value of the newly signed contracts. The exported goods pulled up by contractual projects amounted to US$5.62 billion, up 14.7% year on year.

In January-April, the relevant administrative departments filed and checked 2,557 overseas investment enterprises, and China’s contracted foreign investment reached US$38.23 billion. Among these, 2,541 non-financial foreign investment enterprises were filed or checked, and China’s contracted foreign investment reached US$34.75 billion; 16 financial foreign investment enterprises were filed or checked, and China’s contracted foreign investment reached US$3.48 billion.

III. Consumption Market Operation Situation in April, 2018

The total retail sales amount of consumer goods in April amounted to 2.85 trillion yuan, up 9.4% year on year, the total retail sales of consumer goods in January-April was up 9.7% year on year, 0.1 percentage points slower than that of the first quarter. The retail sales of key enterprises monitored by MOFCOM in April increased by 5.1% year on year, the highest this year; and that in January-April increased by 4.6%, 0.3 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year.

In April 2018, China’s consumption market maintained a steady development with mainly the following features:
1. Sales of upgraded commodity speeded up. in April, sales of office supplies, cosmetics and communication equipments of enterprises over designated size increased by 18.3%, 15.1% and 10.8% year on year respectively, 14.5, 7.4 and 4.7 percentage points higher than those of the same period last year. Driven by people’s increasing travelling, sales of petroleum and petroleum products increased by 13.3% year on year, 4.2 and 1.2 percentage points higher than of last month and that of last year respectively. According to the statistics of China Automotive Industry Association, sales of new energy automobiles in April was 82 thousand, up 138.4% year on year; sales of SUV was 810 thousand, up 18.3% year on year.

2. Service consumption continued to blossom in diversified aspects. In April, the national catering revenue reached 302.4 billion yuan, up 9.6% year on year, higher than commodity retailing since the beginning of this year. According to the statistic of China Tourism Academy, the number of tourists during Tomb Sweeping Day Holiday was over 100 million, up 8.3% year on year, with the tourism revenue reaching 42.1 billion yuan, up 8% year on year. The film box office during Tomb Sweeping Day Holiday increased by 15% year on year.

3. Online retail maintained a rapid growth. National online retail sales of physical commodities maintained a good growth trend, increasing by 31.2% year on year in January-April, 5.3 percentage points higher than in the same period last year; accounting for 16.4% of the total social retail sales of consumer goods, 3.5 percentage points higher than the same period last year. In April, the online retail sales of enterprises monitored by MOFCOM increased by 21.4% year on year, 19.3, 16.4 and 16.3 percentage points higher than that of department stores, shopping centers and supermarkets respectively.

4. Consumption price continued to rise slightly. In April, CPI increased by 1.8% year on year, 0.3 percentage points slower than that of last month, down 0.2% month on month. In the 36 large and medium size municipalities monitored by MOFCOM, the price of edible agricultural products decreased by 3.1% month on month, and up 0.9% year on year in January-April accumulatively. Among these, the price of pork, vegetable and eggs decreased 7.6%, 4.9% and 4.3% month on month respectively.

As the national economy maintained the favorable development trend and the consumption market continued innovation and upgrading, it is expected that the consumption market will continue to maintain a steady and rapid growth.

The above are the information I want to inform you, and next I will answer the questions put forward by the journalists.