On August 23, the Ministry of Commerce of China held a press conference. The Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao stated that China has become the world' s second largest consumer market after the United States. 

However, the foreign trade situation in the second half of this year and the first half of next year is severe and the market players and stabilize orders need to be stabilized. 

The Ministry of Commerce pointed out that the total retail sales of consumer goods in China increased from 20.6 trillion yuan in 2012 to 39.2 trillion yuan last year, an average annual increase of 8.4%. Last year, the total volume of trade in goods and services ranked first in the world.

In terms of foreign trade, our country' s foreign trade scale has reached 4.6 trillion U.S. dollars in 2020, and our international market share accounted for 14.7%, a record high. At the same time, the contribution rate to economic growth reached 28%.

According to the announcement by the Ministry of Commerce, foreign trade continued to maintain rapid growth from January to July this year, with a growth rate of 24.5%, the highest in ten years. However, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao pointed out that the foreign trade situation will be severe in the second half of this year and the first half of next year.

He said: It is impossible to last that long. For example, some orders are due to the intensification of the epidemic situation in the surrounding areas, and orders will be transferred to us. As the epidemic gradually slows down, the returned orders may be transferred out again.

At the same time, he pointed out that we started to recover in the second half of last year, with a relatively high base. Therefore, this recovery cannot be sustained at such a high level forever. We hope that this recovery will be gradually slow, and the final growth will be within a reasonable range. We will strengthen cross-cyclical adjustments in macroeconomic policies, so that our economic fluctuations can be within a reasonable range, and prevent major ups and downs from harming economic growth and market entities.

Wang Wentao said that now we are still facing some difficulties, which are also commonly encountered internationally, such as the impact of transportation capacity and the increase in freight rates, the increase in commodities and raw materials, the pressure of the appreciation of the RMB exchange rate, and the increase in labor costs. The "four difficulties" encountered by foreign trade companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, are even more difficult. Therefore, a series of measures must be taken to stabilize market players and stabilize orders.