CCTV News: my country's imports in 2024 were 18.39 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.3%. Among them, in December, as New Year's Day and Spring Festival approached, my country's imports exceeded 160 billion yuan of consumer goods, hitting a record high in the past 21 months.

On January 11, with a long whistle, an international freighter carrying more than 1,000 cabinets and a total weight of more than 20,000 tons of Chilean cherries slowly berthed in Nansha Port, Guangzhou. This is the largest batch of Chilean cherries imported by the Nansha Port in a single time since the new cherry production season of 2024-2025.

The head of a foreign trade company said that nearly 60% of the cherries will be sold locally in Guangzhou, and the rest will be distributed to other cities across the country such as Dongguan, Shanghai, and Beijing. As the arrival of cherries gradually increases, the price is more affordable.

It is understood that 12 direct cherries are expected to be docked by Nansha Port around the Spring Festival of the Year of the Snake, accounting for about 30% of the total national volume. Nansha Port will also become the largest import port of cherries in China for three consecutive years.

Hu Jingyou, head of the Cold Chain Supervision Section of Nansha Port Phase III of Nansha Port, Nansha Port, Guangzhou Customs, said that in order to promote the "preservation and quality" of fresh fruits such as Chilean cherries, the regulatory authorities have conducted in advance to investigate the needs of enterprises and guided enterprises to make good use of convenient measures such as "conditional withdrawal" and promote the inspection and rapid inspection and release of goods.

At present, more than 92% of Chilean cherries are exported to China. A small cherry rides on the "east wind" of promoting high-level opening up to the outside world, "flying" from the other side of the ocean to ordinary people's homes, and its prices gradually go from expensive to "people-friendly", witnessing the open Chinese market becoming a great opportunity in the world.

In 2024, my country's import scale continued to expand, not only meeting domestic production needs, but also enriching consumption options. Last year, my country's domestic industrial production has steadily increased, driving the import value of electronic components, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and computer parts to increase by 10.1%, 21%, and 62.6%, respectively, and the import volume of commodities such as iron ore sand, natural gas, and coal increased by 4.9%, 9.9%, and 14.4%, respectively. During the same period, the import demand for many people's livelihood consumer goods in my country was relatively strong, such as clothing, fruits, wine, etc., increased by 5.6%, 8.6%, and 38.8% respectively.

Tu Xinquan, director of the China World Trade Organization Research Institute of the University of International Business and Economics, said that as the world's largest manufacturing country, my country has a strong demand for related raw materials, intermediates and equipment, which directly drives trade and economic growth in related countries. At the same time, as one of the world's largest markets, Chinese residents' desire and ability to consume imported goods are also continuing to improve. In recent years, my country has also continuously reduced import tariffs on consumer goods, expanded market access to countries around the world, and shared China's economic development opportunities.