Economic Daily and China Economic Net:
I have a question for Mr. Tang Jun. We understand that the "three guarantees" campaign involves stabilizing price, maintaining quality and ensuring supply. What progress has this campaign achieved so far? What role have participating enterprises played in the fight against the epidemic? Thank you.
Tang Jun:
The "three guarantees" campaign was officially launched on January 29, 2020. Its purpose is to mobilize social resources, especially enterprises and retailers, to maintain market order, ensure supply of epidemic prevention products and guarantee the basic needs of daily life. Since the launch, the action has attracted a robust response. As of February 24, 7,324 enterprises have participated in the action including producers and distributors, e-commerce platforms, shopping malls, supermarkets and franchised convenience stores. Most major enterprises in China are participating in the action, and its effects can be seen in more than 200,000 offline stores covering large, medium and small cities and rural areas. The action has achieved obvious effects.
Market regulation administrations are doing everything they can to stabilize prices. You've probably noticed reports of timely investigation and sanctioning of enterprises marking up the price of masks. As of February 24, more than 4,500 enterprises have been investigated and fined, and over 11,000 cases have been filed alleging price gouging of other medical protective equipment and important commodities for daily life. We work with national and local media to expose such behavior quickly and widely.
But many enterprises are taking active measures and utilizing e-commerce to control prices. E-commerce platforms participating in our action have removed more than 200,000 marked up masks from more than 36,000 stores. Enterprises committed to ensuring quality have been closely checking the quality of goods, strictly controlling purchasing channels, and quickly recalling defective products.
In terms of ensuring supply, many enterprises participating in the "three guarantees" campaign have actively responded to the call to resume work and production. About 98.9 percent of enterprises in the supermarket industry have resumed work and production, and more than 70 percent of enterprises in the food production sector have resumed work and production. E-commerce platforms have helped by strengthening information collection and transaction coordination, timely and accurately connecting supply and demand ends, and effectively guaranteeing supply.
We have seen a lot of promising results since the launch of the campaign. I would like to take this opportunity to ask even more enterprises to participate. The market regulation administrations will work with enterprises to maintain market order and ensure supply of basic commodities. Thank you.