Beijing has placed rural consumption centre-stage in its first No.1 document of the new Five‑Year cycle, mapping a practical expansion of demand toward the countryside that reaches well beyond farm subsidies. The joint document from the Communist Party Central Committee and the State Council frames rural revitalisation as an industrial and consumer opportunity: it calls for upgrading rural retail and services, seeding new consumption formats such as harvest markets and leisure camping, and explicitly backing the sale of new-energy vehicles (NEVs), smart home appliances and green building materials "to the countryside." It also demands improved systems for recovering and recycling bulky household goods in rural areas.
The policy dovetails with fresh data showing rural consumption is already outpacing urban growth. China’s retail sales of consumer goods topped 50.12 trillion yuan in 2025, a 3.7% year‑on‑year rise, while rural retail sales reached 6.8 trillion yuan, up 4.1% — 0.5 percentage points faster than urban growth. Tax authorities’ invoice analysis points to striking replacement and upgrade spending in rural areas: household appliances, kitchenware and mobile phones recorded year‑on‑year revenue growth in the mid‑teens to high teens, and NEV passenger car sales rose more than 24% in volume.
Policymakers cast the move as both demand stimulus and structural modernisation. Encouraging NEV and electric logistics uptake in agricultural heartlands is intended to modernise farm-to-market links — expanding cold‑chain and last‑mile electrified transport — while trade‑in or replacement purchases for appliances would reduce consumption friction and feed manufacturing output. Building out rural recycling chains aims to turn end‑of‑life appliances and furniture into a source of secondary materials and local jobs.
Officials and economists stress income growth as the crucial enabler. Rural per capita disposable income reached 24,456 yuan in 2025, real growth of 6% and outpacing urban income growth by 1.8 percentage points, but analysts argue deeper reforms are needed to unlock further sustained demand. Suggestions include strengthening farmers’ property and business incomes, improving transfer payments, developing county‑level industries that absorb local labour and enhancing public services so households feel secure spending.
The measures have immediate implications for manufacturers and supply chains. For Chinese NEV and appliance makers, the countryside represents a new frontier for volume growth as urban markets mature. For logistics and cold‑chain equipment providers, electrification of last‑mile transport opens a significant addressable market in regions where fruit, vegetables and other perishables still suffer high loss rates. For construction and materials firms, pushing green building products into rural housing renovations could create long‑term demand for sustainable inputs.
Execution risks remain significant. Rural uptake of NEVs and smart appliances depends on local infrastructure — charging networks, reliable power, broadband connectivity and accessible after‑sales service — and on affordable financing or subsidy design. Recycling schemes require administrative capacity and marketable secondary material streams. Regional disparities mean success will likely be uneven, favouring better‑connected counties and agricultural hubs over remote villages.
Strategically, the document signals Beijing’s continued emphasis on ‘‘domestic circulation’’ as a pillar of economic policy: boosting rural consumption is both a social objective and a demand‑side lever to stabilise industrial output without overreliance on exports. For global observers and businesses, the push offers a preview of which sectors Beijing will prioritise for support and where international firms might face stiffer competition from Chinese domestic suppliers integrating down to rural markets.
Ultimately, the No.1 document reframes rural policy as a market‑making exercise. If implementation matches ambition, China could see durable shifts in where and how households buy cars, appliances and building materials — accelerating electrified logistics, strengthening circular‑economy links and turning rural China into a more significant engine of consumer demand.