Participants attend the China Development Forum 2026 in Beijing, capital of China, March 22, 2026. The China Development Forum 2026 kicked off in Beijing on Sunday. The theme of this year's forum is "China in Its 15th Five-Year Plan Period: Advancing High-Quality Development and Creating New Opportunities Together." (Xinhua/Li Xin)

The annual China Development Forum (CDF) 2026, which gathered nearly 100 senior executives from multinational companies, officially opened on Sunday in Beijing, where multiple representatives from food, retail, luxury fashion, and international consulting firms expressed strong optimism about the continued growth of China's consumption market amid the opening year of China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period. 

In a statement to the Global Times on Sunday, Saravoot Yoovidhya, CEO of Thailand's TCP Group, said that "as a Thai enterprise operating in China for more than 30 years, we have always regarded China as one of the most important markets in our global strategy."

TCP Group has steadily expanded and deepened its business in China. The company has invested a cumulative 4.36 billion yuan ($630 million) in China since the 14th Five-Year Plan (2020-25) period. In 2025, it commissioned the second phase of its facility in Southwest China's Sichuan Province and a new production base in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, demonstrating its firm commitment to investing in China.

"Standing at the starting point of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China's continued expansion of institutional openness and construction of a unified national market has injected strong confidence for foreign investors looking to deepen their presence and contribute to consumption upgrades," Yoovidhya said. The company highlighted that strengthening industrial chain coordination, technological innovation, and research and development collaboration with local partners will remain key areas of focus for TCP Group in China.

"This forum is a great opportunity for us to understand where [China's] overall industry is going, what the overall sentiment in terms of growth and development is, and how we could be part of that growth agenda that the country is laying," said Sandeep Seth, chief growth officer and president of Tapestry International, a US-based fashion and luxury company.

Seth noted that China's policy direction for boosting consumption aligns closely with the company's strategy, emphasizing that the Chinese market remains highly attractive and full of growth potential. 

Even though younger consumers are exercising greater caution, brands that successfully resonate with them and build emotional connections are able to perform well, which has supported Tapestry's business to achieve strong growth in the Chinese market and indicates ample space for further investment, Seth added.

Such a sentiment comes amid stable consumption growth in the first two months of 2026, following the implementation of a series of consumption-stimulating policies, and with the extended Spring Festival holidays contributing to increased consumer spending.

In January and February, retail sales of consumer goods reached 8.607 trillion yuan, up 2.8 percent year-on-year, with growth accelerating 1.9 percentage points from December 2025. After adjusting for price factors, real growth stood at 2 percent and services consumption, tourism, and spending on food and apparel showed strong performances, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. 

Denis Depoux, global managing director at Germany-based strategy consulting firm Roland Berger, told the Global Times on the sidelines of the CDF that domestic demand in China is not limited to consumer spending but also includes corporate demand for services.

Over the next five years, the Chinese economy is expected to rely less on exports and manufacturing-related services, while also focusing on developing its domestic services sectors, including hospitality, healthcare, digital services, and education. All of these areas are prioritized under the 15th Five-Year Plan and are relatively open to foreign investment, Depoux said. 

Even though growth in China's consumer market has experienced fluctuations, the market remains attractive, and more demand can be unleashed if consumers have confidence, Depoux said, adding that such changes will not happen overnight, as boosting consumption requires not only stimulating demand but also enhancing supply.

A typical measure of enhancing market supply is China's policy-backed consumer goods trade-in program, which supported sales of over 2.6 trillion yuan in 2025, benefiting more than 360 million people, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed. 

"The new Five-Year Plan provides clear guidance for creating a more vibrant and unified domestic market while releasing domestic demand," Depoux noted, adding that it makes China one of the most attractive markets for global companies.