On March 22, Xu Xinxiong, CEO of Thailand's TCP Group, the founding company of Red Bull, said at the 2026 annual meeting of the China Development Forum that with the in-depth advancement of the "Healthy China" strategy, healthy consumption has transformed from optional demand to rigid demand, becoming a core track for consumption upgrades.
In this context, he called on the government to build a solid foundation for industrial development with scientific supervision and institutional innovation, and for enterprises to accurately match market demand with product innovation and quality upgrades. Through two-way collaboration between government and enterprises, we can truly activate consumption potential, promote the formation of a virtuous cycle that promotes employment, increase income, and stabilize consumption, and consolidate the foundation of consumption as the main driving force for economic growth.
Xu Xinxiong pointed out that innovation is the core engine for activating consumer supply and promoting industrial upgrading, and is also the key to cultivating new productivity in the "15th Five-Year Plan". He suggested further increasing policy support, encouraging enterprises to increase investment in basic research and core technologies, improving the integrated innovation system of industry, academia and research, and adapting industrial innovation to consumption upgrades; at the regulatory level, establishing a scientific and dynamic review mechanism for new raw materials and new functions, optimizing the registration process for innovative products with clear safety and mature efficacy, and appropriately expanding the scope of simple changes for iterative upgrades of existing products. Through policy guidance and industrial investment, we will accelerate the cultivation of new productivity in the beverage industry and create new consumer demand with high-quality supply.
In terms of tapping the potential of consumption scenarios, he suggested that special policies should be introduced to encourage consumer goods companies to continue to expand consumption opportunities, dig deeper into segmented consumer needs, and activate market vitality with the two-wheel drive of "health +" and "smart +": in the "health +" dimension, promote "health + sports, health + cultural tourism, health + office, health + festivals" and other diverse scenarios are integrated to popularize scientific health concepts and make healthy consumption the norm in life; in the "smart+" dimension, relying on artificial intelligence and big data technology, we can accurately capture consumer trends, optimize consumer experience, and achieve accurate docking of supply and demand.
