Columnist of the editorial leader of the documentary/new waves (Bkopleader)

In the case of the “tribal” vehicles (i.e., investment, exports and consumption) of the current national economy, the role of consumption in the “stables” and “pressure stones” that maintain smooth functioning of the country’s economy is becoming increasingly evident, but domestic consumption potential is still not fully realized, and consumer outflows are significant.

On 5 November, the first China International Import Fair opened in Shanghai, conveying to the world our resolve to further expand our imports. For the general population, expansion of imports implies greater access to quality goods and services around the globe, and the consumption structure and potential of the population must therefore be better optimized and released.

Indeed, the expansion of imports can effectively contribute to the upgrading of domestic consumption of the population, which has been confirmed once again by history and which we may wish to say.

Successive consumer escalations are highly relevant to the expansion of imports

The so-called escalation of consumption should include both “quantity” and “quality” components, which indicate the expansion of consumption size and the evolution of consumption structures. They are brilliant, reflecting together the improvement in the level of national consumption and the improvement of the quality of life.

To date, our country has undergone almost four waves of consumer escalation, each of which is behind an increase in consumption.

The first consumer escalation, which began in 1978, was mainly reflected in the decline in the share of food consumption and the increase in the share of light industrial products. Among them, the great initiative of openness has led to an increasing influx of consumer goods from abroad and the gradual release of the long-sustained consumer demand of our population, which is manifested directly in the general shift from “old three” to “new three”.

The second consumer escalation from 1992 to 1998 resulted in further optimization of the consumption structure of the population, with imports of goods, such as video cameras, large size lots, cooling air conditioners and desktop computers, beginning to re-enter the population. In the meantime, the monthly equivalent of our imports was positive in most of the time period, when it reached 55.7 per cent in January 1996; accordingly, in 1992-1998, our consumption was large, with an average contribution to GDP of up to 51.87 per cent.

Since 1998, cars and houses have become increasingly the main vehicle for the third round of consumer upgrading for our inhabitants, and the consumption of imported vehicles has played a significant role. As brands and money formulas increase, people’s consumption in imported vehicles has also increased rapidly. Data from the Chinese automotive market yearbook show that between 2006 and 2011, the number of motor vehicles in our country rose from 119,000 to 824 million, with a short five-year increase of nearly seven times (see figure 1).

Beginning in 2012, a new wave of consumer escalation has reached, mainly in two ways:

In terms of consumption structure, the service-type consumption of our population has grown rapidly, increasing in proportion to the increase in consumption;

In terms of consumer preferences, greater emphasis has been placed on the quality and consumption experience of commodities and on the gradual return of consumption to known brands.

At this time, with the continued expansion of imports, high-quality leisure food, health, cosmetics, etc., are beginning to be followed by domestic consumers, which also further enhances the consumer upgrading of the country.

From the shift towards a change in the liberalization of consumption to date, the consumer situation of our population has generally increased from an improvement in strength to an improved effect, and the positive effects of expansion of imports have been evident, not only in many ways have inspired a sense of consumption, but also in a significant way contributed to the increase in consumption size and to the upgrading of consumption structures and inspiring strong momentum for national economic growth.

Expansion of imports from three quarters to consumer upgrading

How, then, how can the expansion of imports allow domestic consumption to rise? In the penultimate, it appears to be reflected mainly in three ways.

First, the technological spillover that is taking place promotes the upgrading of domestic industries.

The technological spillover effect of high-quality imports from their own ranges is equivalent to the sharing of advanced research and development and production results from abroad into the country, thus allowing domestic producers to learn from the labour force, thus reducing the risk of research and development in our products and allowing the industries concerned to achieve technological advances and transition upgrades more quickly, which are known as “post-earthing advantages”.

For example, in the colour-based electricity sector, as early as the 1970s, my country had the first colour television machine, but was suffering from underdevelopment in terms of production, quality, performance, etc. and was not able to open the scene. Thanks to external openness and expansion of imports, the country’s electricity industry has been able to develop rapidly with its back-to-back advantages and has occupied a place in the global market. This, in turn, has contributed significantly to the expansion of the size of the electricity consumption of our inhabitants.

Secondly, competition is exacerbated and domestic industries are being transformed.

The large-scale influx of imported goods inevitably triggers more intense competition in domestic markets, which in the short term is likely to place greater pressure on some domestic enterprises. This can, however, also have a “bading effect” that further enhances the motivation of indigenous enterprises in research and development inputs, technological improvements and innovation, so as to enhance their competitiveness and take a place on the international market.

The car industry is a typical example. The country has been introducing advanced products and technologies abroad through, inter alia, automobile imports, joint ventures, but heavy competition has not left indigenous cars uninhabited. On the contrary, a number of indigenous business enterprises have increased research and development inputs and business improvements, and many car brands have moved to the world. And, of course, the vast majority of our inhabitants are also the main beneficiaries of the rise of indigenous cars.

Thirdly, the consumer demand of domestic consumers is more met.

In theories of international trade, one of the important ways to enhance consumer welfare is to increase consumer effectiveness by importing products that cannot be produced or produced in the country without cost advantages, expanding the range of goods that consumers can choose, meeting diversified multi-tier consumer demand and reducing consumer prices. This is also applicable in our realities.

At present, the consumption of our population is shifting towards individualization and diversification, while demand for high-quality goods and services in the areas of healthy diet, medical rehabilitation, information communication, cultural innovation is growing at a sustained rate. Domestic enterprises