2024 RT Amination Banner.gif

China Daily

News> Business> Content
Published: 11:53, September 06, 2021 | Updated: 11:54, September 06, 2021
E-commerce soars over past five years
By Yuan Shenggao
Published:11:53, September 06, 2021 Updated:11:54, September 06, 2021 By Yuan Shenggao

Government's next national plan for the sector set to be unveiled

E-commerce company JD displays its technologies and services at the ongoing China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing. (WANG WANTING / CHINA DAILY)

China's e-commerce saw robust growth over the last five years and a national plan for the sector's development in the years 2021-25 will soon be unveiled, said officials at the 2021 China E-Commerce Convention.

Part of the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services, the two-day China E-Commerce Convention began on Friday in Beijing.

Ren Hongbin, vice-minister of commerce, said at the convention's opening ceremony that China's e-commerce experienced impressive development during the last five years. "Online shopping has become an important way of consumption," Ren said. "The volume of e-commerce transactions recorded nationwide increased from 26.1 trillion yuan (US$4.04 trillion) in 2016 to 37.21 trillion yuan in 2020, representing an average annual growth rate of 9.3 percent.

"The country's online retail sales grew from 5.16 trillion yuan to 11.76 trillion yuan during the five-year period at an average annual rate of 22.9 percent."

E-commerce played a key role in driving rural development. Over the last five years, the government encouraged e-commerce companies to promote agricultural products and help cultivate internet-based brands. In 2020, the country's online retail sales of agricultural products reached 415.8 billion yuan, which added to the income of more than 3 million farmers living in poverty, according to Ren.

Internationally, China has played an active role in negotiating trade rules on e-commerce at the World Trade Organization, Ren said. The number of China's "Silk Road E-Commerce" partner countries has increased to 22.

The plan for the development of e-commerce in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), jointly compiled by the Ministry of Commerce, the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Committee and the National Development and Reform Commission, will soon be unveiled, Ren said.

In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will focus on eight tasks, which include advancing innovation-led development, driving the country's consumption upgrade, supporting rural revitalization and promoting international cooperation.

Yan Ying, vice-chairwoman of the Beijing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said online consumption has become a new engine driving the capital's economic growth.

"E-commerce has fueled the city's consumption upgrade and brands' innovation efforts, with businesses from various sectors actively adopting advanced technologies such as big data and cloud computing to deliver more innovative services and better products and experiences.

"Cross-border e-commerce has become a new contributor to trade growth and China's duel-circulation development paradigm. In the first half of 2021, Beijing's cross-border e-commerce saw imports and exports increase by more than 40 percent year-on-year," Yan said.

Oliver Joubert, charge d'affaires ad interim of the Hungarian embassy in China, said at the main forum that cooperation between Hungary and China in e-commerce can be dated back to 2017, when the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on e-commerce cooperation.

Hungary is one of China's 22"Silk Road E-Commerce" partner countries. "Communication and cooperation has remained very active in the years following the signing," he said, citing Hungary's national pavilions on Chinese e-commerce platforms Tmall and JD as examples.

Digitalization increases the scale, scope and speed of trade, said Robert Troy, Ireland's minister of state for trade promotion, digital and company regulation.

He said at the main forum: "It (digitalization) allows firms to bring new products and services to a larger number of digitally connected customers across the globe. It enables firms, notably smaller ones, to use new and innovative digital tools to overcome barriers to growth.

"In our rapidly changing world, online commercial transactions have become a ubiquitous part of our lives. Nowhere is this fact more apparent than in China. Without doubt, the world has much to learn from Chinese companies and the well-developed nature of China's online commercial ecosystem. And it is at forums such as this where we can exchange views and ideas that we can help one another."

At the opening ceremony, the Ministry of Commerce presented plaques to 16 newly selected national e-commerce demonstration bases. They include the Huigu Industrial Park in Shanxi province and the Henan Bonded Logistics Center in Henan province.


Share this story

CHINA DAILY
HONG KONG NEWS
OPEN
Please click in the upper right corner to open it in your browser !