Photo: A live streamer sells snacks online in Danfeng County, Shangluo, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, July 20, 2020. Online sales of agricultural products in Danfeng County have soared in recent years thanks to improving rural e-commerce infrastructure and a bunch of active home-grown live streamers. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)
BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities will introduce promotion plans to further tap the consumption potential in the rural areas, with the focus on the promotion of e-commerce into the countryside and the improvement of the business circulation network, according to the Xinhua-run Economic Information Daily on Tuesday.
Ministry of Commerce (MOC), Ministry of Transport and other departments have recently unveiled a circular to continuously carry out the special action for efficient distribution in urban and rural areas.
According to a rural industry development plan (2020-2025) issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, authorities will strive to guide various e-commerce entities such as e-commerce, logistics, commerce, finance, supply and marketing, postal and express delivery to invest in the rural areas and build a rural shopping network.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, said that it will accelerate the expansion of 5G applications to meet residents' needs for high-quality services and promote the e-commerce entry in the rural areas and expand rural consumption.
Experts note that with the policies put in place, potential of the rural market is expected to be released quickly and the consumption in the rural areas will become an important support for the country's economic and social development.
Statistics show that from January to July, the retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas was 17,737 billion yuan (about 2,589.6 billion U.S. dollars), a year-on-year decrease of 10 percent, while that in the rural areas stood at 2,708.8 billion yuan, down 9.5 percent year on year. The rural consumer market recovered 0.5 percentage points faster than the urban one.
At the same time, the rural payment capacity has improved. Data show that in the first half of the year, the per capita disposable income of rural residents was 8,069 yuan, with a nominal growth rate of 3.7 percent, 2.2 percentage points faster than that of urban residents. The income ratio of urban and rural residents dropped to 2.68 from 2.74 in the same period last year, and the relative gap continued to narrow.
China's rural consumer market has huge potential and needs to be tapped. From the perspective of consumption capacity, the disposable income of rural residents has grown faster than that of urban residents for many years, providing a guarantee for rural residents' consumption. From the perspective of consumer demand, rural residents' demand for consumer durables and service consumption continues to increase. Online consumption patterns are gradually taking shape in the rural areas, according to Guan Lixin, an expert with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAITEC) with the MOC. (Edited by Hu Pingchao with Xinhua Silk Road, hupingchao@xinhua.org)
A single purchase
