The upcoming fifth China International Consumer Products Expo, to be held from April 13 to 18 in Haikou, Hainan province, is expected to attract the highest number of participants compared with past editions, which points to the confidence of global consumer enterprises in China, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said. The event, the largest consumer goods expo in the Asia-Pacific region, will become China’s first significant international expo this year, and an important platform for the country to further boost consumption and expand high-quality development, said the Ministry, the co- organizer of the Expo. In the recently delivered Government Work Report, boosting consumption was listed as a top priority among this year’s tasks.
“This year, the Expo is expected to attract the participation of more than 1,700 companies and over 4,100 brands from 71 countries and regions. This scale far exceeds the previous four editions,” said Sheng Qiuping, Vice Minister of Commerce, at a news conference in Beijing. The holding of the consumer expo, coupled with the policies of the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP), is expected to help drive the growth of duty-free shopping, catering, accommodation, and tourism in Hainan, promoting its development into a globally influential tourism and consumption destination, MOFCOM said. This year, the United Kingdom will serve as the guest of honor, and the UK, France, Switzerland and Slovakia will showcase their products in national exhibition groups. In addition, different provinces and cities across the country will showcase popular domestic products and time-honored brands. In addition to the exhibition of products, services consumption – such as healthcare and wellness, sporting events and artificial intelligence (AI) – will also be highlights of the event this year.
“With the hosting of four editions of the consumer expo, international consumer enterprises have increasingly felt the charm of the Hainan FTP and felt that the door of China’s reform and opening-up is opening increasingly wider,” said Gu Gang, Vice Governor of Hainan. In the first two months, total retail sales of consumer goods in China reached CNY8.37 trillion, up 4% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 0.5 percentage point higher than the whole year figure of last year, the China Daily reports.
