SOURCE / ECONOMY
China launches the Festival for Time-Honored Brand to boost consumption
Published: May 13, 2021 01:45 AM
Launch event of the 2021 Time-Honored Brand Festival in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province on Wednesday. Photo: Shen Weiduo/GT

Launch event of the 2021 Time-Honored Brand Festival in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province on Wednesday. Photo: Shen Weiduo/GT


China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has launched a national time-honored brand festival in an effort to further boost consumption potential in the world's second largest economy on Wednesday. The time-honored brand is a title granted by MOFCOM to Chinese enterprises that have distinct Chinese cultural characteristics and are widely recognized.

The event named Festival for Time-Honored Brand, which will run throughout the whole year was launched in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province. This province is famous for Cantonese food, also one of China's most popular cuisine worldwide.

A total of more than 50 time-honored brands, intangible cultural heritage brands, and national characteristic products along the Belt and Road route, including clothing, food, and Chinese medicine, were showcased during the launch event. Georgian specialty wines, Thai durian products and Vietnamese coffee, are also displayed.

MOFCOM said it will continue to promote the time-honored festival activities throughout the year, focusing on the theme of "Homemade products, quality life."

This event is one of MOFCOM's 2021 month-long national campaign to revive  consumption in the country. A series of activities designed to promote regional cuisine and revitalize local time-honored brands will be held across the country.

The high-profile campaign also comes on the back of a noticeable rebound in retail spending this year. In the first quarter this year, retail sales grew 33.9 percent year-on-year, a rise of 8.5 percent compared with the same period of 2019, official data showed.

Still, consumption recovery remains unbalanced, with some sectors, business models, categories and regions in a comparatively slow mode, and the demand of the average shopper is yet to be fully satisfied, Gao Feng, spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce, said in late April this year.