China to boost imports of high-quality consumer goods

BEIJING - China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) will continue to promote high-level opening up and expand imports of high-quality consumer goods, an official said on Wednesday.

Customs data shows that China imported 1.95 trillion yuan ($274.65 billion) of consumer goods in 2023, up 1.2 percent from the previous year, said Xu Xingfeng, director of the MOC department for market operation and consumption promotion.

Preliminary statistics show the total value of cross-border e-commerce retail imports reached 141.77 billion yuan in 2023, up 7 percent year-on-year, he said.

The ministry will further improve the level of import trade facilitation, give full play to the platform role of consumer exhibitions and enhance the convenience of cross-border business personnel exchanges, amid efforts to build China's super-large market into a large market shared by the world, he said.