Shu Jueting: Friends from the media, good afternoon. Welcome to MOFCOM’s regular press conference. Today I don’t have any announcement to make and I’d like to take your questions.

The floor is open now.

Xinhua News Agency: In August, the growth rate of total social retail sales sped up. How do you view the current domestic market consumption recovery? What measures will be taken to further boost consumption?

Shu Jueting: Recently, the policy of stabilizing growth and promoting consumption has continued to take effect with the domestic consumer market showing a sound development momentum. In August, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 5.4% year-on-year, up by 2.7 percentage points compared with that in July. Commodity consumption continued to rebound. In August, the retail sales of automobiles and home appliances above the designated size rose by 15.9% and 3.4% year-on-year, continuing the upward trend since June. Online consumption grew steadily, with the online retail sales of physical goods up by 5.8% year-on-year from January to August, accounting for 25.6% of the total. Service consumption steadily recovered, with catering revenue up by 8.4% year-on-year in August. Going forward, with the further release of policy effects, the overall consumption is expected to continue its recovery momentum.

In the next step, MOFCOM will continue to coordinate efforts in COVID response and consumption promotion in accordance with the arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and work on the following three aspects to promote the sustained recovery of consumption. First, focus on key points. We will continue to promote the implementation of policy measures to expand automobile consumption, support the purchase and use of new energy vehicles, and further activate the used-car market. We will implement policy measures to promote the consumption of green smart home appliances, carry out trade-in of home appliances, and promote green smart home appliances in the countryside. We will also work for the recovery of catering, accommodation and other industries. Second, expand scenarios. We will further restore and activate consumption scenarios, and create new ones through digital empowerment and integration of business, tourism, culture and sports, fully leverage platforms such as the international consumption season and the China International Import Expo to optimize the supply structure and stimulate the vitality of consumption. We will promote the healthy development of new business formats and models, expand brand quality consumption and promote green consumption.

Third, smooth circulation. We will promote the construction of county business system, improve the supply chain system of agricultural products, and expand rural consumption. We will step up efforts to foster international consumption center cities, promote the creation of smart shopping districts and demonstration stores, build quarter-hour convenient living circles in cities, and improve urban consumption. Thank you.

National Business Daily: Recently MOFCOM revised and released the Measures for the Administration of Standardization in the Field of Commerce, what are the considerations of MOFCOM in promoting standardization work?

Shu Jueting: Standardization is an important way to promote the high-quality commercial development. In order to thoroughly implement the Standardization Law of the People's Republic of China and the National Standardization Development Outline, and further improve the management of standardization in commercial sector, MOFCOM recently revised and issued the Measures for the Administration of Standardization in the Field of Commerce, which will be officially implemented on October 20th. In the newly revised Measures, we have clarified the scope of work and responsibilities of standardization in commercial sector, optimized the procedures for formulating and revising standards, strengthened supervision and implementation management of standards to ensure that standards are realistic, feasible and effective, and will play a normalized and leading role in promoting standardization in commercial sector.

In the next step, we will strengthen publicity and interpretation, improve the supporting system, and focus on the implementation of the Administrative Measures. First, optimizing the standard system. Focusing on major arrangements such as keeping growth stable, promoting consumption, and protecting people's livelihood, we will speed up the formulation and revision of standards in relevant areas, continuously expand the coverage of standards, and give full play to the fundamental leading role of standards in building the market system. Second, strengthening the implementation of standards. We will continue to carry out the special pilot project on the standardization of commercial circulation, launch events on "leaders" on enterprise standards on the commercial front, fully encourage market players to carry out work on standardization, change market players from passive followers of standards to active participants, and promote industry and businesses to improve quality and efficiency with advanced standards. Third, deepening international cooperation. We will carry out international cooperation and exchanges on standardization, vigorously promote mutual recognition of Chinese and foreign standards, encourage relevant trade associations, professional institutions and enterprises to actively participate in international standardization activities, and provide stronger standard support for trade facilitation. Thank you.

Economic Information Daily: As the National Day holiday is approaching, many localities, platform enterprises and supermarkets are launching promotional activities. The Ministry of Commerce has stated that it is necessary to make more efforts to promote consumption during holidays, among which household appliances, automobiles and other bulk consumption have become important topics. What are the roles of these activities in promoting consumption? What other measures will the Ministry of Commerce take to ensure market supplies during the holiday?

Shu Jueting: September and October are the peak season of traditional consumption, and the National Day holiday, the peak season of resident consumption. On the premise of effective COVID response and control, the Ministry of Commerce has continuously promoted the "2022 International Consumption Season", and various localities have launched a series of colorful consumption promotion activities with local features, such as the China-ASEAN international consumption event held in Guangxi, the 2022 Golden Autumn Shopping Festival held in Zhejiang, and the golden autumn consumption season launched in Jiangsu. These activities have created a atmosphere in which everyone actively participates in and enjoy consumption, which helps to further stimulate market vitality and promote sustained consumption recovery.

As the National Day holiday is around the corner, the Ministry of Commerce will take active measures to provide holiday supplies of the daily necessities and ensure supplies in times of emergency. With the goal of guaranteeing the total volume, the basic necessities, the market and the people's livelihood, we will keep the mechanism prioritizing the shipment of supplies in times of emergency in an activated state, strengthen the monitoring and early warning of market operation, arrange the transportation of goods across provinces in time, give full play to the regulatory role of meat reserve market, and make every effort to ensure the sufficient supply of daily necessities and that prices are generally stable during the National Day holiday. Thank you.

Shu Jueting: Are there any questions? If not, this is the end of the press conference. As the National Day holiday is around the corner, I wish you all a happy holiday! Thank you.

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