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MOFCOM Regular Press Conference (December 23, 2021)

Gao Feng: Members of the press, good afternoon, welcome to MOFCOM regular press conference. First of all, let me share with you the following information.

First, on China’s outbound investment cooperation from January to November, 2021

From January to November, China’s outbound direct investment totaled RMB 640.38 billion, down 2.9% year-on-year ( equivalent to USD 99.13 billion, up 4.3% year-on-year). The accomplished business revenue through contracted overseas engineering projects stood at RMB 856.47 billion, up 2.6% year-on-year (equivalent to USD 132.58 billion, up 10.1% year-on-year). The main characteristics are as follows:

First, investment cooperation with Belt and Road partner countries kept growing. From January to November, China’s direct investment in BRI countries totaled USD 17.99 billion, up 12.7% year-on-year. The accomplished business revenue through contracted overseas projects in these countries reached USD 76.65 billion, up 8.2% year-on-year.

Second, outbound investment in multiple sectors continued to grow. From January to November, outbound investment in manufacturing totaled USD 16.35 billion, up 3.7% year-on-year, while investment in transport, wholesale and retail, and information services was also upbeat.

Third, there was an increasing number of big contracted projects. From January to November, Chinese businesses' newly signed overseas contractual engineering projects numbered 404, up by 23 over the same period of last year, mainly featuring transport and power engineering.

So much for the briefing. Now I’d like to take your questions. The floor is open.

Economic Information Daily: As the New Year and Spring Festival are approaching, what measures will MOFCOM take to ensure market supply, promote consumption and maintain a favorable environment for the public to enjoy their holidays?

As the New Year and Spring Festival are approaching, MOFCOM recently held the national video and telephone conference on commerce work to mobilize resources to ensure market supply during the holidays while following proper Covid containment protocols.

First, strengthen market sourcing. We will guide and urge commercial distributors to further enrich supply based on the features of festival consumption to meet consumers’ diversified demand. Second, maintain normal operation during the two festivals. While following the Covid control and prevention requirements, we will support commercial distributors to open as usual during the holidays, and ensure that a certain proportion of agricultural wholesale markets, wet markets, supermarkets, e-commerce platforms, meal delivery service platforms and express delivery companies are open during the holidays to satisfy consumers’ needs. Third, ensure sufficient supply. We will guide commercial distributors to reserve carrying capacities for the holiday season in advance, timely expand sourcing channels, replenish government reserves of meat and storable vegetables, so as to ensure sufficient supply and stable prices during the holidays, and to prevent daily necessities from being out of stock. Thank you.

China Business News: Consumption growth fell below 4% in November again after a two-month rebound. What is MOFCOM’s take on the growth trend of consumption? What measures will it take to address the bottlenecks of consumption development?

China’s consumption growth slowed down in November owing to multiple Covid outbreaks across the country and a higher consumption base number, yet our consumption still presents strong resilience. China’s consumption market remains a steady upward trend and bears the following features:

First, urban and rural consumption markets picked up at the same pace. From January to November, the total retail sales of consumer products in urban and rural areas amounted to RMB34.6 trillion and RMB5.3 trillion, up by 13.8% and 13.3% respectively.

Second, consumption of daily necessities grew steadily. From January to November, retail sales of cereal and oil products and beverages by entities above designated sizes rose by 10.7% and 21.2% year-on-year respectively. Regarding online retail sales of physical products, food products increased by 18.8% year-on-year.

Third, sales of trade-up products saw rapid growth. From January to November, retail sales of gold, silver and jewelry, office supplies and communication equipment by entities above designated sizes grew by 34.1%, 20.2% and 16.3% year-on-year. Sales of building materials and furniture were up by 22.2% and 16.9% respectively.

Fourth, new types of consumption registered high growth rates. For the January to November period, the online retail sales of physical products reached RMB9.8 trillion, up by 13.2% year-on-year and accounting for 24.5% of the total retail sales of consumer products. The sales volume of new energy vehicles increased by 1.7 fold to 2.99 million, taking up 12.7% of the total car sales.

Moving forward, MOFCOM will follow the instructions of the Central Economic Work Conference to prioritize market stability and pursue steady progress. On top of improving urban consumption, we will move faster to develop the county-based commercial system, promote rural consumption, foster new consumption hot spots, and work towards the steady recovery and upgrade of consumption market, so as to contribute to the building of the new development paradigm. Thank you.

Bloomberg: It will be two years early next year since the entry into force of the China-US phase one trade deal. Will there be an assessment of the implementation by then or a phase two negotiation for the next step?

Gao Feng: China has endeavored to advance the implementation of the deal since its entry into force by both sides despite the Covid-19 pandemic, global economic recession, supply chain disruptions and other challenges. We hope the US can create a favorable environment and conditions for expanding the bilateral trade.

The Chinese and US economic and trade teams have maintained normal communication. If there is anything new, we will release it in a timely manner. Thank you.

China Daily: As RCEP is about to take effect, what will MOFCOM and relevant agencies do to implement the agreement? What new measures will be taken to promote high-level opening up?

Gao Feng: RCEP will come into force on January 1, 2022. Currently, all preparations for domestic implementation are in place.

The life of agreement lies in implementation. MOFCOM will promptly issue the Guiding Opinions on High-Quality Implementation of RCEP with all relevant departments involved in the agreement to help localities and enterprises better and more fully use RCEP rules and grasp the opportunities created by opening up of the market, effectively drive the steady growth of intra-regional trade and investment, promote the deep integration of industrial and supply chains among members, and promote higher-quality and deeper regional economic integration in East Asia.

Regarding high-level opening up, MOFCOM will work together with relevant departments to conscientiously follow through the arrangements by the Central Economic Work Conference, further strengthen the role of such opening up platforms as the pilot free trade zones, Hainan Free Trade Port, national economic development zones, promote opening up at the institutional level, strive to foster a market-oriented, law-based and world-class business environment and allow foreign investors to share in Chinese market opportunities and development benefits. In the meantime, we will better balance and coordinate opening up and development, revise and expand the Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment and promote coordinated development of the eastern, central, western and northeastern regions in China. Thank you.

The Paper: Recently, MOFCOM and the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) jointly published the Guidelines for National Services Standardization Pilots (Commerce and Circulation Sectors), setting out regulations for the management, development processes, and standardization system for the pilot projects. How does MOFCOM view the potential influence of these pilot projects on commerce and circulation? How will MOFCOM make these pilots more operable?

Gao Feng: MOFCOM and the SAMR jointly launch national services standardization pilot projects for commerce and circulation, with the major aims of guiding companies to bring their quality of service, management, and technologies to a higher level, and encourage quality improvement and innovation-driven development of the two sectors.

A key area of these pilot projects is integration of domestic and foreign trade. We will guide entities under the pilot projects to adopt internationally acknowledged standards or advanced foreign standards, and carry out mutual recognition of domestic and international standards, to enable the role of standardization as a technical underpin in boosting trade growth and advancing trade facilitation.

The Guidelines sets out comprehensive regulations for the application and handling, organization and implementation, and evaluation and assessment. It divides the two-year pilot phase into four stages, specifies the fundamental principles, types of structure, and methodology of development of the standardization system, and incorporates a catalogue of existing commercial standards and examples of developing standardization systems, serving as a reference for entities under the pilot projects.

In the next step, MOFCOM will work with the SAMR to step up follow-up guidance for entities under the pilots, summarize and share experience in due time, and promote transformation, upgrading, and high-quality development of the commerce and circulation sectors. Thank you.

Zhejiang Daily: The MC12 Ministerial Statement on Plastic Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade was released on December 15th. China has always been a major proponent and practitioner of prohibiting the use of disposable plastic products and strengthening prevention and control of plastic pollution. What are the specific measures MOFCOM will take in the next year?

Gao Feng: On December 15th, 67 WTO members, including China, signed and released the Ministerial Statement on Plastic Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade, covering issues such as supporting global efforts to reduce plastics pollution, enhancing transparency regarding trade policies relevant to reducing plastic pollution, addressing trade-related capacity building and technical assistance needs, strengthening international cooperation and holding dedicated discussions with a view to identify best practices and share experiences.

In recent years, the Chinese government has introduced a series of measures to gradually reduce, restrict, and prohibit the use of disposable plastic products, completely ban the import of solid waste, promote recyclable and degradable alternative products, and increase plastic waste-to-resource and plastic wast-to-energy conversion. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China will continue to increase efforts to prevent and control plastic pollution.

As a main proponent of the Ministerial Statement on Plastic Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade, China will work with other co-signers toward an increasing engagement of WTO members in discussions on plastics. China will also closely cooperate with international organizations such as UNEP and UNCTAD on more focused discussions on trade and plastic pollution reduction, focus on trade policies and best practices to deliver real outcomes of trade policies in addressing plastic pollution, and enhance trade-related capacity building of and technical assistance to developing members. Thank you.

Gao Feng: If there’re no more questions, that’s all for today’s press conference. Thank you.



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