[Gao Feng]: Dear friends from the press, good morning. Welcome to today’s special press conference of the Ministry of Commerce. The theme of today’s conference is stabilizing foreign trade, stabilizing foreign investment and promoting consumption. We are glad to invite Director of the Comprehensive Department of MOFCOM Mr. Chu Shijia, Director of the Department of Foreign Investment Administration Mr. Tang Wenhong, Deputy Director of the Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion Mr. Wang Bin, Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Trade Administration Ms. Zhu Yong. I am Gao Feng, the host of today’s press conference, Deputy Director of the General Office and spokesperson. First, Mr. Chu Shijia will introduce the main situation and operation in the commercial field this year. Then the 4 spokespersons would like to answer the questions of your concerns. Now I will give the floor to Mr. Chu Shijia.

[Chu Shijia]: Dear friends from the press, good morning. Since the beginning of this year, facing the complicated domestic and international situation, the Ministry of Commerce followed the guidance of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implemented the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference and the deployment of the government work report, ensured the requirements of the “6 stabilities”, and further advanced the stable foreign trade, stable foreign investment and consumption promotion. Main indicators are kept within an appropriate range, showing a good development trend of achieving generally stable growth while making further progress.

First, the consumption of residents grew steadily. From January to May, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 16.1 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.1%, 0.1 percentage points faster than that of January-April. Urban consumption showed strong momentum. During the May Day holiday, the customer flow and turnover of the first 11 pedestrian streets throughout the country increased by 19% and 28% respectively. Festivals remarkably promoted consumption. The “Online Brand and Quality Shopping Festival” saw the online retail sales of 77 billion yuan in 13 days, up 32%. The national tourism revenue of the Spring Festival, the May Day and the Dragon Boat Festival holidays increased by 8.2%, 16.1% and 8.6% respectively. The proportion of online shopping has increased. The online retail sales of physical goods increased by 21.7%, accounting for 18.9% of the total retail sales of consumer goods, up 2.3 percentage points. The daily consumer goods showed a good growing trend. The growth rate of daily necessities, food and beverage consumption exceeded 10%. In May, car consumption increased by 2.1%, the first growth since April 2018. Rural consumption has grown rapidly. The retail sales of rural consumer goods increased by 8.9%, 0.9 percentage points faster than that of urban consumer goods.

Second, foreign trade achieved stable growth with quality improved. From January to May, the imports and exports of goods reached 12.1 trillion yuan, up 4.1%, of which the exports reached 6.5 trillion yuan, up 6.1% and the imports reached 5.6 trillion yuan, up 1.8%. The surplus was 893.4 billion yuan, up 45%. Diversification achieved remarkable results. The imports and exports to the markets except the US increased by 6.2%, and the imports and exports with the two major trading partners EU and ASEAN increased by 11.7% and 9.4% respectively. The proportion of imports and exports with countries along the “Belt and Road” routes increased to 28.8%. Private enterprises became the driving force. The exports of private enterprises increased by 14%, 7.9 percentage points faster than the overall exports, accounting for 50.5%. The exports of high-tech, high-quality, and high value-added products have grown rapidly. The exports of integrated circuits, metal processing machine tools, blade electric buses and wind turbines increased by 25.1%, 25%, 1.6 times and 2.7 times respectively. The regional structure was more balanced. The exports of the central and western regions increased by 14.7%, accounting for 17.6%, up 1.3 percentage points. The proportion of general trade increased. The exports of general trade increased by 10.3%, accounting for 58.8%, up 2.2 percentage points. Trade in services grew steadily. From January to April, China's imports and exports of trade in services reached 1,744.6 billion yuan, up 4.1%. The export growth was faster than the import growth, and the deficit dropped.

Third, the use of foreign capital remained steady and upward. In January-May, the actual use of foreign capital was 369.1 billion yuan, with an increase of 6.8%. The growth rate was 5.5 percentage points faster than that of the same period last year, 0.3 percentage points faster than the first quarter. Multinational companies were optimistic about the Chinese market. Germany, South Korea, Japan, the UK, and the US increased their investment in China by 100.8%, 88.1%, 18.9%, 9.2%, and 7.5% respectively. The EU's investment in China increased by 29.5%. Large projects grew rapidly. There were 605 big FDI projects above US$50 million, either newly established or additional contractual. . , with an increase of 45.4%. ExxonMobil, BASF, Johnson Controls, ProLogis, Hershey and other companies set up companies in China or expand investment. The structure of foreign capital continued to be optimized, and the use of foreign capital in high-tech manufacturing increased by 23.2%, accounting for 11.3%. The high-tech service industry grew by 68.9%, accounting for 17.2%. The effect of attracting funds through the open platform was obvious. In January-May, the use of foreign capital in the Pilot Free Trade Zone increased by 7.4%, accounting for 11.9%. The proportion of foreign capital utilized by national economic development zones accounts for one-fifth of the national total.

Fourth, the foreign investment cooperation developed orderly. In January-May, FDI reached US$47.2 billion with the scale slightly reduced and the structure continuously optimized. It grew faster in Africa and Europe, and increased by 19.6% and 19.8% respectively. It mainly flew to the rental and business services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail industries, and the total accounted for 52%. Among these the flow to the manufacturing industry was US$8.3 billion, with an increase of 16.1%. The overseas contracted projects were basically stable, with a turnover of US$55.5 billion, concentrating in industries such as transportation, construction, and electric power.

In general, China's business development was stable and structurally optimized this year. This fully proves that the judgment for economic situation of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core is completely correct. The CPC Central Committee's leadership over economic work is strong. In particular, since the beginning of this year, China’s reforms have continued to be deepened, the door to opening up has become wider and the business environment has become more perfect. China promulgated the Foreign Investment Law, further reduced the negative list of foreign investment access in the national version and the pilot free trade zone version, continued to improve the level of trade and investment facilitation, and introduced a series of tax reduction and fee reduction policy measures. All of these have provided strong support for stabilizing foreign trade and investment and promoting consumption. Next, guided by President Xi Jinping’ Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, in accordance with the requirements of the "6 stabilities", MOFCOM will do everything possible to stabilize foreign trade and investment, push forward consumption, advance the formation of a strong domestic market, and promote all-round opening up. We will promote the building of a strong economic and trade country, accelerate the development of high-quality business, and greet the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China with outstanding results. Thank you all.

[Gao Feng]: Thank you for the introduction of Director-general Chu Shijia. Next, we will come to the Q&A session. Please ask the questions regarding the theme of today’s press conference. As always, please notify us the of the name of your agency before asking the questions.