China steps up efforts to address disorderly price competition among enterprises

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, said on Thursday that it recently convened a meeting to study and formulate standards for identifying the costs associated with disorderly price competition.

The meeting, organized by the NDRC together with relevant departments and industry associations, highlighted that disorderly price competition continues to be a prominent issue in certain industries.

Some enterprises have not fully implemented the requirements to regulate price competition behaviors, and there are still actions disrupting market price order, according to the NDRC.

The NDRC pledged to collaborate with relevant authorities to continuously advance related efforts, address disorderly price competition among enterprises, and maintain a sound market price order to support high-quality development.

On Oct. 14, 2025, Chinese Premier Li Qiang presided over a symposium on the economic situation, during which he urged greater efforts to stimulate market vitality, and address disorderly and irrational competition.

On Oct. 15, a revised anti-unfair competition law took effect, giving regulators stronger legal tools to tackle rat race competition, a concept gaining traction in recent years to describe cutthroat competition, where companies, vying for market share, engage in aggressive price cuts but only get trapped in a cycle of diminishing returns.