Alibaba to import US$200bn of foreign goods into China over next five years

 

The announcement was made at the Global Import Leadership Summit at the first China International Import Expo in Shanghai, and Alibaba said that it would import goods from over 120 different countries to meet rising demand from consumers in the Chinese market.

 

"Leveraging Alibaba's innovative technology and robust ecosystem, we are committed to making global trade more inclusive and fulfilling our mission 'to make it easy to do business anywhere' in the digital era,” Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba, said in the press statement.

 

China’s middle glass is growing rapidly, with Alibaba noting in its statement that Deloitte China, the China Chamber of International Commerce, and AliResearch found in a joint report that China’s strong economic growth has massively boosted the number of people on middle to high incomes.

 

 

 

The report added that Alibaba’s cross-border shopping platform, Tmall Global, expanded its userbase tenfold between 2014 and 2017, indicating strong customer demand for international products.

 

Alvin Liu, General Manager of Tmall Import and Export, said:

 

"As incomes are rising in China, consumers want faster access to and a wider variety of high-quality products from around the world.”

 

"Tmall is uniquely positioned to help international brands tap into the growing China market as consumers seek to upgrade their lifestyle."