LINE

Text:AAAPrint
Society

China buys from world at home

1
2015-10-10 16:24Xinhua Editor: Gu Liping

Almost every afternoon, Cao Fushun goes to a nearby express delivery station to see if any parcels have arrived for him. The retired worker has caught the "haitao" bug.

For Cao, haitao (buying overseas goods online) means he can shop in countries he has never previously heard of.

Living in Pengzhou, a county near Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, Cao has bought skimmed milk from Australia, beef from Argentina, and a water filter from Germany, among other foreign goods.

At the end of last year, Cao's daughter, an accountant in Beijing, bought U.S.-made fish oil capsules and vitamin tablets for her parents. "I was surprised how inexpensive they were, so I got hooked on haitao myself," he says.

A fast growing number of Chinese online shoppers are buying globally. Most are digital natives, young, well educated and eager to buy foreign goods that are unavailable or exorbitantly priced in China. They are a booming multi-billion-dollar market for foreign e-retailers and producers.

According to China E-commerce Research Center, China's total cross-border e-commerce - inbound and outbound - reached 4.2 trillion yuan (657 billion U.S. dollars) in 2014, and will grow to 5.5 trillion in 2015.

The Ministry of Commerce forecasts that cross-border e-commerce will be worth 6.5 trillion yuan in 2016, accounting for 20 percent of the country's total foreign trade.

Nielsen's Global E-commerce and The New Retail Survey in April said several factors are at play to boost China's e-commerce. Rapid urbanization and high population density make the home delivery model economically viable, particularly when coupled with low labor costs. In addition, booming smartphone ownership and usage have created huge mobile commerce opportunities.

China's domestic e-commerce sector is gaining its share of the market too. According to China's Customs service and China E-commerce Research Center, 18 million Chinese spent 140 billion yuan on haitao in 2014. The haitao market volume will reach 1 trillion yuan in 2018.

The government is backing this trend. In August 2013, the State Council issued a policy to support cross-border e-commerce, with six concrete measures to facilitate processes, including Customs clearance, quarantine inspection, duties and foreign exchange.

In 2014, seven cities - Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Zhengzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chongqing - were designated import e-commerce pilot zones, where foreign goods can be stored in bonded warehouses before Customs clearance. In 2015, another two coastal cities were added to the list.

According to tax regulations in those cities, each order under 500 yuan (about 82 U.S. dollars) is duty-free, and each order from 500 to 1,000 yuan incurs a 10-percent tariff, compared with ordinary imported goods being taxed around 40 percent on average.

  

Related news

MorePhoto

Most popular in 24h

MoreTop news

MoreVideo

News
Politics
Business
Society
Culture
Military
Sci-tech
Entertainment
Sports
Odd
Features
Biz
Economy
Travel
Travel News
Travel Types
Events
Food
Hotel
Bar & Club
Architecture
Gallery
Photo
CNS Photo
Video
Video
Learning Chinese
Learn About China
Social Chinese
Business Chinese
Buzz Words
Bilingual
Resources
ECNS Wire
Special Coverage
Infographics
Voices
LINE
Back to top Links | About Us | Jobs | Contact Us | Privacy Policy
Copyright ©1999-2018 Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.