Shanghai announced a total of 10 new measures on Sunday to support the development of its debut economy, aiming to strengthen its position as a global hub for brand debuts.
The initiatives include pilot programs for streamlined inspection of imported consumer goods, a fast-track customs clearance model for imported cosmetics, and enhanced enterprise service packages for imported products.
Official data showed that, by the end of 2024, Shanghai had hosted over 3,500 brand launch events and welcomed 1,269 new first stores that year.
To further boost its debut economy, the city plans to increase financial support for product debuts at exhibitions and high-profile flagship store openings.
Shanghai introduces new measures to support debut economy
China will enhance its equipment upgrading and trade-in programs in 2026 to boost domestic demand, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced on Tuesday.
Regarding promoting large-scale equipment upgrades and replacing old consumer goods with new ones, significant progress was reported in 2025. In the past year, ultra-long-term special government bond funds were arranged to support approximately 8,400 equipment-upgrading projects, stimulating total investments exceeding 1 trillion yuan (about 143.5 billion U.S. dollars). Over 360 million people applied for subsidies under the consumer goods trade-in scheme, leading to sales of related goods surpassing 2.6 trillion yuan.
Wang Shancheng, director of the Department of Resource Conservation and Environmental Protection at the NDRC, said at a press conference that the Implementation of these measures will continue to be optimized in 2026.
"We will further lower the investment threshold for application projects, increase support for small and medium-sized enterprises, expand policy coverage, implement the requirements for building a unified national market, and implement unified subsidy standards nationwide for the scrapping and replacement of vehicles, trade-in of six categories of home appliances, and four categories of digital and smart product purchases," said Wang.
The NDRC representative also highlighted that in 2026, efforts will focus on comprehensively expanding domestic demand. An implementation plan to expand domestic demand for the 2026-2030 period will be formulated. Furthermore, the NDRC will promote upgrades in key industries, explore establishing a national-level mergers and acquisitions fund, and cultivate and bolster emerging and future industries.
China to enhance equipment upgrades and trade-in programs in 2026
