China is starting the consumer offensive

China is starting the consumer offensive. The country wants to stimulate private consumption with a campaign around the five-day vacation on Labor Day on May 1st. This ranges from a consumer goods exhibition in the southern province of Hainan to a month-long spending campaign in Shanghai including an auto show, as announced by the Ministry of Commerce's spokesman, Gao Feng. Other big cities like Beijing, Chongqing and Suzhou would also be promoting this. E-commerce platforms want to promote food, travel, and cultural and sports products from "good quality brands" for half a month. Expanding domestic consumption is a priority in China's "double cycle" economic strategy promulgated by President Xi Jinping. With this, the export world champion also wants to reduce its dependence on foreign markets. Scheduled events in other cities include a food fair in Yangzhou City in eastern Jiangsu Province and a fair in Guangzhou to showcase well-known brands. The city of Haikou on the subtropical island of Hainan - positioned by Beijing as an important Chinese consumer and tourism center - will hold the first consumer goods fair from May 7 to 10. In addition to local products, brands from 69 countries and regions will be presented there. Over 10,000 dealers and more than 200,000 visitors are expected. According to state media, global brands such as Swatch, Shiseido, Dell and Tesla have already confirmed their participation. China's retail sales were up 34.2 percent year-on-year in March - significantly more than expected. Here economists had promised a not quite as strong increase of 28 percent. They were also 12.9 percent higher than in March 2019 - before the pandemic.