China Distributes Hundreds of Billions in Consumer Coupons... Boosting Durable Goods Sales

Automobile and Home Appliance Sales Lag Behind Food Service and Tourism
Local Governments Issue Large-Scale Consumer Coupons

China has launched a large-scale issuance of consumption coupons to accelerate the pace of economic recovery, which has fallen short of expectations. The focus is particularly on expanding durable goods consumption such as automobiles and home appliances, where wallets open more slowly compared to the travel and tourism sectors.

According to Chinese economic media Caijing on the 14th, local governments across China have begun distributing large-scale consumption coupons. Caijing reported, "After the Spring Festival (Chunje, the Chinese New Year), regions are once again actively issuing coupons to stimulate consumption," adding, "The aim is to target peak seasons by categorizing coupons for automobiles, home appliances, culture, and travel."

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Hubei Province will issue consumption coupons worth about 300 million yuan (approximately 53.4 billion KRW) across the region starting from the 16th. Online coupons account for 50 million yuan, and offline coupons for 250 million yuan. Prior to this, the Hubei Provincial Department of Commerce designated the period until the 30th as Consumption Days, offering home appliance consumption coupons along with cultural tourism coupons worth 400 million yuan.

The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce will also issue consumption coupons during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday (June 22-24) and the summer vacation period. The coupons can be used only for 55 categories mainly related to electronic products, valid until the 16th of next month. The Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Commerce is creating a fund of 100 million yuan until the 20th of next month to conduct a city-wide automobile consumption promotion event. On the 20th, it will also issue a second round of Chengdu cultural tourism consumption coupons worth 10 million yuan.

The Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism announced that it will issue cultural and tourism consumption coupons worth 30 million yuan across all regions until the 30th and implement 30 policies to support related financial aid. The Yuhang District of Hangzhou City will distribute coupons worth 3 million yuan to tourists nationwide starting from the 15th.

In China, automobiles, home appliances, furniture, and dining are considered the "four major consumption sectors," but recently, the recovery speed of durable goods consumption such as automobiles and home appliances has been evaluated as slower compared to service sectors like dining. Automobiles account for about 10% of total retail sales, and including vehicle fuel, the share reaches 15%. From January to April this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods amounted to 14.9833 trillion yuan, an 8.5% increase compared to the same period last year. However, automobile sales during the same period increased by only 7.1% year-on-year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.