China’s Xi to boost auto, appliance sales in consumer push

THE Chinese government seeks to boost the sales of traditional consumer products including cars and home appliances, state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing a meeting hosted by President Xi Jinping.

“Accelerating product renewal and replacement is an important measure to promote high-quality development,” Xi said in the central financial and economic meeting held on Friday (Feb 23), according to CCTV. “We must encourage and guide a new round of large-scale equipment upgrades and the replacement of old consumer goods with new ones.” 

The Chinese leader also called for efforts to reduce the logistics costs of the whole society. He called logistics the “veins” of the real economy connecting production and consumption as well as internal and external trade.

Xi’s exhortations could boost car sales in the world’s second-largest economy, which is projected to drop 15.7 per cent in February compared with the same period last year due to disruption from the Lunar New Year holiday and customers delaying purchases in anticipation of more price cuts. BLOOMBERG