BYD took the lead in cutting prices, and the performance of A-share gold listed companies is expected to be ...... In the first quarter, the domestic consumer market was full of bright spots

China Business Daily (Reporter Lei Kexin Wang Tongxu) The competition of new energy vehicles has escalated, consumers are enthusiastic about buying gold, and it is difficult to find a popular restaurant...... Consumption is the main engine of economic growth, and in the first quarter of this year, the domestic consumer market was full of bright spots, with new consumption trends emerging and new consumption hotspots continuing to heat up, driving steady growth in consumption.

Consumers visit and buy cars at the World Expo Plaza in Dalian, Liaoning Province. (PHOTO COURTESY OF CNSPHOTO)

The competition for new energy vehicles is hot

In the first quarter of this year, new energy vehicle companies continued to open the "volume". BYD took the lead in sounding the clarion call for price reduction, and many car companies have followed suit, and the "price war" of new energy vehicles has entered a white-hot stage; Xiaomi's strong entry into the automotive industry has stimulated consumers' enthusiasm for buying and increased the fierce competition among new energy vehicle companies.

In addition, more and more executives of car companies have come to the front of the stage from behind the scenes, such as Li Bin, CEO of NIO, Daniel Zhang, CEO of Nezha Automobile, and Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, who have started online live broadcasts, and short video platforms have become a "battleground" for car companies.

In this context, the mainland new energy vehicle market maintained a strong growth momentum, and the production and sales volume increased steadily in the first quarter. On April 18, Tao Qing, spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and director of the Operation Monitoring and Coordination Bureau, said at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office that in the first quarter, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in mainland China were 2.115 million and 2.09 million respectively, an increase of 28.2% and 31.8% year-on-year respectively, and the market share reached 31.1%.

"Steady growth, strong demand, and many bright spots". On April 19, Xu Xingfeng, director of the Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce, commented on the characteristics of the mainland consumer market in the first quarter at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office. Among them, "stable growth" is mainly reflected in bulk consumption such as automobiles, home appliances, and home furnishings.

The development and growth of the automobile consumer market is inseparable from policy support. Recently, 14 departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, issued the "Action Plan for Promoting the Trade-in of Consumer Goods", which put forward measures in carrying out the trade-in of automobiles and promoting the trade-in of household appliances. Various localities have also successively launched the "old for new" policy to further promote automobile consumption. Shanghai, Hubei, Ningxia, Shandong and other places have launched automobile consumption subsidy policies to stimulate consumers' demand for car purchases.

In addition, the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration have also recently jointly issued the Notice on Adjusting Relevant Policies for Auto Loans, which clearly relaxes the ratio of auto loans, and the proportion of auto loans is determined by financial institutions independently, which means that the maximum loan disbursement ratio can reach 100%.

Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said that with the detailed implementation of policies such as "trade-in" for automobiles, the potential of automobile consumption will be further stimulated, thereby stabilizing market expectations and helping the high-quality development of the automotive industry.

Gold consumption is "hot and hot"

Since the beginning of this year, the international gold price has continued to rise, and the domestic retail gold price has also hit new highs. As a hedging and safe-haven asset with both decorative attributes, the demand for gold consumption in the domestic market has not diminished.

At the beginning of the new year, there is a steady stream of customers in gold retail stores. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, during the Spring Festival holiday in 2024, the sales of gold, silver and jewelry, mainly gold products, increased by 24% year-on-year. According to data from the China Gold Association, gold jewellery and gold bars for the Year of the Dragon became the most popular products during the Spring Festival holiday.

"Buy if you like, buy when you have a need, buy early and enjoy early. The reporter of China Business Daily continued to pay attention to the gold consumer market and found that for some consumers who just need it, they will not postpone their gold purchase plan because the gold price is at a high level. "Buying money for marriage, buying money for gifts to parents and children, and rewarding yourself for buying gold are all reasons to buy gold. And for ordinary people, the number of grams purchased will not be very large, and it will not cost a lot of money. A consumer told reporters.

While the price of gold is soaring, there are also more and more people who are optimistic about the value of gold itself. Since the beginning of this year, the bank's gold bars, gold coins, transfer beads and other physical gold and even accumulation gold business have become popular. During the visit, a number of bank wealth managers told reporters that the number of customers who have consulted the provident fund business has increased significantly in recent times, and gold bars are still the most popular.

The reporter noticed that there is no shortage of consumers on social media who talk about the latest price of gold and investment methods. Whenever there is a fluctuation in the price of gold, they discuss and remind each other whether it is time to "sell".

In addition to investment, there are also many people who buy gold bars in order to go to the gold store to "strike gold".

"Buying gold in brand stores, especially for head brands, costs tens of yuan per gram. And when I go to the gold shop to strike gold, the labor fee is only a dozen yuan per gram. The higher the gram weight of the gold jewelry, the more money it saves. Another consumer told reporters.

These consumers who pay more attention to cost performance have also led to the "gold" business. The owner of a gold jewelry shop told reporters that after the price of gold soared, people used gold bars every day to process them into gold jewelry.

While consumers set off a frenzy of gold purchases, gold listed companies also made a lot of money.

As gold prices continue to soar, the first-quarter performance of A-share gold listed companies is promising. Shandong Gold's first-quarter performance forecast shows that it is expected to achieve a net profit attributable to the parent company of 650 million to 750 million yuan in the first quarter, an increase of 48.11% to 70.9% year-on-year. Looking back on the company's performance over the years, the performance level of Shandong Gold in the first quarter of this year is expected to hit a record high.

Similarly, Hunan Gold and Yintai Gold are also expected to usher in the best quarterly reports in history. Among them, Hunan Gold expects the net profit attributable to the parent company in the first quarter of this year to be 149 million to 170 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 40% to 60%. Yintai Gold expects its net profit attributable to its parent company to be RMB480 million to RMB520 million in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 61.94% to 75.43% over the same period last year. Yintai Gold said that the year-on-year increase in net profit was mainly due to the increase in gold and silver prices and the increase in sales volume.

Catering and tourism have become "explosive manufacturing machines"

In the first quarter of this year, "Harbin Tourism" and "Tianshui Malatang" have become popular out of the circle, and catering and tourism have become veritable "explosive manufacturing machines". With the new trend of consumption heating up all aspects of catering, and people's enthusiasm for catering, the catering industry will usher in new development opportunities.

According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first quarter of this year, the national catering revenue was 1,344.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.8 percent, and the catering income of units above designated size was 355.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.2 percent. Among them, in March, the national catering revenue was 396.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.9 percent, and the catering revenue of units above designated size was 117.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.2 percent.

An alley, a wet market, or a local specialty food can all become a hot spot that makes a city go viral. Recently, the tourism of small cities represented by Tianshui has once again set off a tide of catering consumption. According to data from the Gansu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, during the three days of the Qingming holiday, Tianshui City (2 districts and 5 counties) received a total of 946,500 tourists and achieved a comprehensive tourism income of 540 million yuan, of which 289,000 tourists were received on April 6 and a comprehensive tourism income of 160 million yuan.

From last year's "entering Zibo to catch up with the roast" to this year's "Zibo re-roasting", the attraction of Zibo food to consumers has once again made the city's tourism popularity rise. According to the "2024 Qingming Holiday Travel Consumption Trend Report" released by Tongcheng Travel, Zibo's tourism popularity continued, with a year-on-year increase of more than 200%.

In order to stabilize and expand catering consumption, support the high-quality development of the catering industry, and further enhance the main role of consumption in the domestic cycle, the Ministry of Commerce and other nine departments recently jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of the Catering Industry". Yang Liu, president of the China Cuisine Association, said that the May Day holiday is approaching, and catering enterprises should also focus on possible problems in safe production, food quality, clear pricing, anti-waste and other aspects while promoting consumption and innovating consumption scenarios, so as to jointly promote the continuous improvement of the economic operation of the catering market and contribute to the high-quality development of the catering industry.