China’s home of world’s largest iPhone factory eyes night economy to brighten outlook

Central China’s Henan province, home to the world’s largest iPhone factory, on Thursday unveiled a series of measures to boost consumer spending at night, as it scrambles to offset declining exports.

The provincial development and reform commission encouraged local government agencies to utilise reserve land not yet included in supply plans to establish distinctive nighttime fairs and supporting facilities like parking lots and office spaces, in a circular dated last week.

It also outlined plans to create more nighttime spending scenes, including music festivals, theatre performances, art exhibitions and sporting events, along with emerging businesses such as 24-hour bookstores, late-night cafeterias and speciality night fairs to diversify consumption options.

“The night economy has become a new engine for new types of business, cultivating markets, promoting employment and expanding consumption,” the commission said.

The circular encouraged various businesses entities to carry out digital upgrading, promoting nighttime live-streaming shopping, while calling for entrepreneurship among college graduates and the unemployed to set up stalls at local night markets.

As part of the government incentives, night fair operators with monthly sales of less than 100,000 yuan (US$14,138) would be exempt from tax.

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The province is seeking to counteract a large decline in exports after shipments in the first seven months of the year dropped by 15 per cent in value to 244.1 billion yuan (US$34.5 billion).

Retail sales in the province did rise by 5.7 per cent to 1.75 trillion yuan in the first eight months of the year, which was better than the national average of 3.4 per cent, although this was attributed to a lower comparison base last year.