MOFCOM Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion Comments on operation situation of consumption market in first half of 2019

Recently， the official of the MOFCOM Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion introduced the operation situation of consumption market of China in the first half of 2019.

The official pointed out that driven by the consumption， market in the first half year remained stable in general. According to the statistics of the State Statistics Bureau， the total retail sales amount of consumer goods in January - June amounted to 19.5 trillion yuan， up 8.4% year on year， 1 percentage point lower year on year， 0.1 percentage point faster than that of the first quarter. That in June increased significantly by 9.8% year on year， 1.2 percentage points higher than that in May， hitting the highest speed in the recent 15 months. The fundamental role of consumption in economic growth continued to be consolidated. The contribution rate of final consumption expenditure growth to economic growth in the first half of the year reached 60.1%. The main features in the consumption market were what follows：

First， the basic living expenses were strong. In the first half of the year， the retail sales of daily necessities， Chinese and Western medi- cines， grain， oil， food and beverages increased by 14.1%， 10.9%， 10.4% and 9.9% respectively， with the growth rates being 1.5， 1.6， 0.6 and 0.3 percentage points higher than those in the same period of the previous year respectively.

Second， service consumption developed steadily. In the first half of the year， national catering revenue increased by 9.4% year on year， which was 1.1 percentage points higher than the growth rate of retail sales of goods. The national residents education， culture， entertainment and health care consumption expenditure increased by 10.9% and 9.5% respectively. During the Spring Festival， Qingming， May Day and Dragon Boat Festival holidays， the national tourism revenue increased by 8.2%， 13.7%， 16.1% and 8.6% respectively. Service consumption accounted for 49.4% of the final consumption expenditure of residents， 0.6 percentage points higher over the same period of the previous year.

Third， online retail sales grew faster. In the first half of the year， the online retail sales of physical goods increased by 21.6% year on year， accounting for 19.6% of the total value of the company， 2.2 percentage points higher over the same period of the previous year， driving the social retail by 3.8 percentage points. According to data from the State Post Bureau， the volume of express delivery services completed in the first half of the year was 27.76 billion， increasing by 25.7% year on year. According to the big data monitoring of the Ministry of Commerce， during the “6.18” shopping festival （June 1st- 18th）， the national retail sales of physical goods network increased by 27.5%.

Fourth， the country and the central and western regions led the growth rate. The growth rate of rural consumption continued to be faster than that of urban areas. In the first half of the year， the retail sales of rural consumer goods increased by 9.1% year on year， which was 0.8 percentage points higher than that of urban areas， accounting for 14.5% of total social retail. The growth rate of the central and western regions maintained a leading position. From January to May， the growth rate of Jiangxi， Yunnan， Henan， Hubei and Sichuan all exceeded 10%， higher than the national average.

Fifth， consumer prices rose moderately. In the first half of the year， consumer prices rose by 2.2% year on year， 0.4 percentage points higher over the first quarter， with a year-on-year increase of 2.7%. The price of national edible agricultural products monitored by the Ministry of Commerce increased by 5.2% year on year， and rose by 11.1% year on year in June.

At the same time， the growth rate of retail sales of automobiles， oil and products， clothing， building materials， furniture and home appliances above designated size fell significantly in the first half of the year， down 1.5， 8.8， 6.2， 4.5， 4.4 and 3.9 percentage points respectively.

The head of MOFCOM Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion said that in the face of the complex and volatile international economic and trade environment， Chinas consumer market showed good growth resilience in the first half of the year. In the second half of the year， the consumer market is still facing great pressure. However， with the steady improve- ment of the national economy， the employment stability of urban and rural residents and the rapid growth of income， the state has further implemented the policies such as reducing taxes and fees， expanding opening up， improving the mechanism of promoting consumption， and accelerating the renovation of old communities in towns. The consumption potential of residents has been continuously released. It is expected that the consumer market will maintain a steady and rising trend in the second half of the year.

MOFCOM Department of Foreign Trade comments on the 20.7% contribution rate of net export to GDP Growth in the first half of the year

Since the beginning of this year， the external environment of foreign trade development has been complicated and severe， the international economic and trade growth momentum has slowed down， and unilateralism and trade protectionism have intensified. In accordance with the CPC Central Committee and the State Councils work on maintaining stability in six areas， MOFCOM， together with various regional departments， vigorously explored diversified markets and optimized the international market layout， and issued a series of policy measures to achieve positive results.

In the first half of this year， the import and export maintained a steady development and contributed more to the national economy. According to customs statistics， in terms of RMB， import and export increased by 3.9% year on year， export increased by 6.1% year on year， and import increased by 1.4% year on year. According to the National Bureau of Statistics， the contribution of net export of goods and services to GDP growth in the first half of the year was 20.7%， which was 1.5 percentage points higher than investment. Evaluated from this， net export boosted GDP growth by 1.3 percentage points. At the same time， the “five optimizations” of the international market layout， domestic regional layout， business entities， commodity structure， and trade methods have made positive progress. From January to June， the proportion of export to emerging and other markets outside the U.S.， the EU， Japan and Hong Kong increased by 1.4 percentage points to 48.7%； that in the central and western regions increased by 1.1 percentage points to 17.5%； that of private enterprises increased by 3.2 percentage points to 50.7%； that of mechanical and electrical products accounted for 58.3%； that of general trade export increased by 1.7 percentage points to 58.7%.

MOFCOM Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services comments on development of service outsourcing in first half of 2019

Head of MOFCOM Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services introduced the development of service outsourcing in the first half of 2019.

Since the beginning of this year， in the face of the severe and complicated international situation， MOFCOM has conscientiously implemented the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to stabilize foreign trade and employment， has made every effort to expand service exports and narrow the service trade deficit， and has maintained a steady and upward development trend in service outsourcing.

The scale grew steadily. In the first half of the year， Chinese enterprises signed a service outsourcing contract of 709.98 billion yuan （the same currency below）， with an execution amount of 405.94 billion yuan， with a year-on-year increase of 29.3% and 11.5% respectively. Among these， the offshore service outsourcing contract amounted to 464.92 billion yuan， and the execution amount was 242.47 billion yuan， up 34.6% and 7.9% respectively year on year.

Achievement was made in stabilizing employment. In the first half of the year， there were 1，800 new service outsourcing enterprises in China， with 225，000 new employees. Up to the end of June 2019， the service outsourcing industry has absorbed 10.91 million jobs， including 7.04 million people with the degree no less than that of college student， and has become a reservoir for high-quality talents.

The business structure was continuously optimized. The volume of offshore execution of manufacturing service outsourcing such as inspection and testing and e-commerce platform services increased by more than 40% year on year. New business modes of service outsourcing， such as cloud computing， artificial intelligence and big data， have been constantly emerging， which has effectively promoted the digital transformation of the industry.

The key markets continued to expand. The undertaking of service outsourcing in Chinas Hong Kong increased by 14.8% year on year， and that of the EU increased by 20.2% year on year. The Belt and Road market was further promoted， and the undertaking of Russian service outsourcing increased by 56.9% year on year， which has become the highlight of Sino-Russian economic and trade cooperation.

Next， following the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on stabilizing foreign trade and ensuring employment and adapting to the current trend of digitalization， intelligence， high-end and integration development of the global service outsourcing industry， MOFCOM will accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the service outsourcing industry to high technology， high added value， high quality and high efficiency， and will comprehensively enhance the brand influence and international competitiveness of “China Service.”