Click the image for details On March 3, the National Two Sessions commenced as scheduled. Let's take a look at what truths the FMCG industry leaders spoke at this year's Two Sessions. Two Sessions Representative: Zong Qinghou, Chairman and General Manager of Wahaha Group Zong Qinghou founded Wahaha Group in 1987, which has now developed into a large food and beverage enterprise group integrating product R&D, production, and sales. It is China's largest beverage producer, with output ranking among the world's top. On October 24, 2015, he was appointed as a consultant to the first council of the Zhejiang Merchants Association. In the 2016 Hurun Rich List, the Zong Qinghou family ranked fifth with wealth of 112 billion yuan.

  1. Adjust product structure, transitioning from safety to health During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, China vigorously implemented the quality power strategy to improve the quality of consumer goods. Zong Qinghou believes that in recent years, under the supervision of the State Food and Drug Administration and governments at all levels, China's food safety situation has gradually improved. With the continuous advancement of technology, food quality is also getting higher. Zong Qinghou stated that shifting from safety to health is the next goal for the food industry. "Supply-side reform is about adjusting the product structure. Consumers have higher requirements for products, and we must also continuously improve the quality of our products," Zong Qinghou said. "For the food and beverage industry, I think it is about shifting from safety to health. Nowadays, both the elderly and young people have some sub-health issues. Therefore, we hope to develop health foods that are beneficial to people's health through bioengineering, traditional Chinese medicine dietary therapy, and other efforts, to meet new consumer demands."
  2. Stick to the main business and pursue diversified development For cross-industry expansion, the leap from the beverage and food industry to biotechnology, sensors, and intelligent manufacturing is quite significant. In this regard, Zong Qinghou said: "We originally had a machinery factory mainly serving ourselves, making molds and spare parts for imported equipment. Now we can make equipment ourselves, but this is still at a basic stage. So we have also done biotechnology, sensors, intelligent manufacturing, and robots, but the key components of robots are still imported, so costs cannot be reduced." "Equipment manufacturing is the main force for China, and the leap from the food and beverage industry to manufacturing is quite large," Zong Qinghou said. "The food and beverage industry is what we started small and built from scratch, so we have rich experience in this area. In the technology industry, we cooperate with insiders." Regarding diversification, Zong Qinghou said: "For enterprise diversification, first, whether the enterprise has the need; second, whether it has the capability; third, whether it has the conditions. Of course, developing the main business is the most important. For Wahaha, we have not diversified much; we have always stuck to the main business. We once made children's clothing, earning over 20 million yuan a year, which is quite impressive for a small enterprise, but for us, it felt not worth it because it required many styles and a lot of effort. In food and beverages, if you develop a successful product, it can bring in billions. Spending so much effort to earn 20 million is not worth it, so we gave it up." "Wahaha's main business has already grown very large, so excessive development may be detrimental to the entire industry. If we expand scale, it is necessary for diversification, depending on whether there are opportunities. This industry has been monopolized by others; if there is no development opportunity, entering it will not work. Different industries are like different mountains, so cooperating with insiders still offers opportunities," Zong Qinghou said.
  3. Good use of internet technology helps the real economy Zong Qinghou believes that economic development, improving people's livelihoods, achieving a moderately prosperous society, and letting people live happy lives all depend on the development of the real economy. However, many e-commerce companies' promotional activities and spending money to buy traffic have disrupted the pricing system of the real economy. "They buy your product for one yuan, sell it for eighty cents, and after occupying the market, they raise prices, which impacts the real economy." Zong Qinghou said that doing the internet well is also helpful to the real economy. "One is in management: from order to settlement, all use information systems, which can reduce labor and improve accuracy. Another is in equipment: now relying on internet technology for intelligence, automatic adjustments ensure product quality." Of course, Zong Qinghou also said that real enterprises will choose to use the internet to create new marketing methods to promote their products. Two Sessions Representative: Fan Xianguo, Chairman of Jinmailang "It can be said that more than 50% of people believe instant noodles contain preservatives and are unhealthy, but this is completely wrong. The process of instant noodles determines that they do not need any preservatives," said Fan Xianguo, a National People's Congress representative and chairman of Jinmailang, which created China's private enterprise noodle kingdom, on March 4. He said that in recent years, the public's confidence in domestic food has declined, leading to reduced purchasing desire, which directly affects the national policy of "expanding domestic demand." In fact, the problem Fan Xianguo mentioned, caused by consumer misconceptions, is not unique to the instant noodle industry. Similar situations are common across the entire food industry, especially in the dairy industry. For example, many consumers believe domestic milk is not as good as imported milk. Fan Xianguo, who has repeatedly called for food safety science popularization for several years, brought four suggestions to this year's Two Sessions, one of which is to urge the prompt promotion of food education legislation and the formation of a positive social atmosphere for food safety interaction.
  4. How can instant noodles have preservatives? Regarding this suggestion, as the leader of China's private instant noodle industry, Fan Xianguo has deep feelings. In an interview with the media, Fan Xianguo said that food safety issues easily cause public panic, especially in today's era of developed self-media. Often, a piece of seemingly plausible information about food safety can cause psychological tension among many people, evolving into rumors spread by word of mouth, and even leading to a decline in public trust in the government. In this regard, Fan Xianguo directly cited instant noodles as an example: In Japan and South Korea, per capita consumption of instant noodles is over 70 servings a year, while in China it is only about 30 servings. In the past two years, the public has had some concerns about eating instant noodles. If you survey consumers, more than 50% believe instant noodles contain preservatives and are unhealthy. "In fact, as for preservatives, instant noodles simply do not contain them because the dehydration process determines that preservatives cannot be used," Fan Xianguo said. Consumers lack knowledge and mistakenly believe instant noodles contain preservatives. In fact, many consumers lack healthy eating knowledge, which truly affects health. For example, many girls are slimming and skip dinner. In reality, food is emptied from the stomach after four hours. If you do not eat anything, stomach acid will increase. If you have this knowledge, you should eat three meals a day, but not overeat at each meal. "We need to expand domestic demand; consumption is one of the main horses. If people have misunderstandings in cognition, it will affect consumption," Fan Xianguo said. With economic development and social progress, our root and foundation are to improve people's lives, but due to insufficient knowledge, our quality of life, health, and longevity will be affected.
  5. Public dairy consumption knowledge is equally lacking In fact, what Fan Xianguo mentioned is just a typical example in the food industry, but it is precisely rumors or the public's lack of basic common sense that has damaged the development of related industries. Instant noodles are one aspect, and the dairy industry, another major food industry, is no exception? Currently, whether buying milk powder or liquid milk, more consumers prefer foreign brands and lack confidence in domestic brands. In fact, the latest data released by the State Food and Drug Administration shows that in the testing of infant formula milk powder, large enterprises such as Yili, Feihe, Sanyuan, Junlebao, and Shengyuan all passed 100%. On the contrary, some foreign brands have frequent problems. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine just released food information not admitted in January this year, showing that Australian Ausnutria infant milk powder was ordered to be destroyed due to "taurine content not meeting national food safety standards." In December last year, there were 15 batches of dairy products not admitted, of which 2 batches of foreign milk powder Forte葆 (Fortemel) for older infants were ordered to be returned, and yogurt from Australia and cheese from France were also destroyed for non-compliance. Even infant formula milk powder already sold in the Chinese market has been found to have problems. In May last year, the Heilongjiang Food and Drug Administration announced that in the sampling inspection conducted at that time, 7 batches of foreign milk powder were unqualified, involving three trademarks: Holle, Lactana Töpfer, and Angi's Land. The problems were that vitamin A indicators did not meet standards, and manganese indicators, DHA, and ARA did not match label values. In June, the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China, responsible for registering overseas food production enterprises for import and export, suspended the registration of production enterprises of two organic milk powder brands, Germany's Töpfer and France's Angi's Land. To this day, the German Töpfer factory remains suspended. Some consumers also prefer cross-border e-commerce to buy foreign milk powder, not knowing that these individually cross-border purchased foreign milk powders are not produced according to Chinese food safety standards, and some nutrient indicators cannot meet the growth needs of Chinese infants and young children. However, some of these consumers do not understand this knowledge at all.
  6. Food safety cognition affects the national policy of "expanding domestic demand" "Because the public's sense of food safety is not strong, it will also affect the national policy of 'expanding domestic demand'." Fan Xianguo believes that in 2016, the national food and drug regulatory authorities conducted annual sampling inspections of 257,000 batches of food, with the pass rate steadily increasing to 96.8%. It can be said that the overall food safety situation is good. However, Chinese residents' sense of food safety is not strong, and social opinion and the media panic at the mention of food safety. "The decline in public confidence in domestic food leads to a decrease in their purchasing desire, which is reflected in the prosperity of the imported food market in recent years." Fan Xianguo cited data from the Shanghai Chain Operation Research Institute: from January to March this year, imported food increased by 34.8%. At present, the Chinese market has become one of the largest markets for imported food, with products from 143 countries and regions, about 50,000 to 60,000 varieties, and over 15,000 brands. According to the prediction of the American Food Industry Association, China will become the largest imported food consumer country in 2018, with a market size reaching 480 billion yuan. "Behind this series of numbers, on the one hand, it reflects the improvement of people's living standards; on the other hand, it shows the decline in Chinese consumers' purchasing desire for domestic food. This directly affects the spirit of the central government's proposal to 'enter a healthy track of sustainable development through expanding domestic demand.'" Fan Xianguo said that this is closely related to the food safety literacy of Chinese residents. Therefore, improving the food safety literacy of the whole people is as urgent and important as improving health literacy.
  7. Fan Xianguo urges the prompt promotion of "food education" legislation How to establish a consumer trust mechanism? In Fan Xianguo's view, food safety and nutrition education (food education) can eliminate differences. First: Formulate laws and regulations related to "food education" The so-called food education refers to food safety and nutrition education, as well as related dietary etiquette, codes of conduct, food security, and other related education. Fan Xianguo said that Japan enacted the "Basic Act on Food Education" as early as 2005, setting basic food education goals, including: 1. Popularize food safety and nutrition knowledge; 2. Promote reasonable and healthy eating habits; 3. Improve the code of conduct in social life; 4. Build trust between consumers and producers and operators; 5. Stimulate public concern and thinking about environmental and food issues. In Fan Xianguo's view, Japan's long-term food education and the promulgation of the "Basic Act on Food Education" have played a significant role in the health literacy and national quality of Japanese citizens, and can be used for reference. China should also formulate and promulgate formal "food education" laws and regulations, such as the "Food Safety Education Law," which can play a supervisory and promotional role under objective conditions, so that "food education" work can truly be implemented. Second: Encourage interaction among all sectors of society to form a good social atmosphere for food education Fan Xianguo said that in order to comprehensively improve the food education level of society and all residents, food and drug regulatory departments, health and family planning commissions, etc., should propose clear plans, encourage interaction among all parties, not only to implement the task of social co-governance of food safety but also to form a good social atmosphere for food education. Enterprises can be encouraged to actively carry out consumer communication and food safety risk communication. To cultivate consumers' correct cognition and judgment ability of food, enterprises should implement food education around their own characteristics, stimulate public participation enthusiasm, and let the public have close contact with food manufacturers through activities such as factory visits, science lectures, and hands-on operations, improving the transparency of food production, showing a good image of honest production, forming a positive interaction between producers and consumers, enhancing understanding, and boosting consumer confidence. Also, leading food enterprises can be encouraged to carry out various factory tourism, industry museums, visit corridors, food safety public welfare competitions, media open days, consumer open days, etc., opening factory doors and actively strengthening food safety risk communication. In addition, food safety science popularization can be encouraged to enter primary and secondary schools, communities, government agencies, and rural areas. Relevant departments and local governments can designate primary and secondary schools, government agencies, community streets, and other groups to participate in similar food safety education work. At the same time, food enterprises carrying out related food safety education work should be given policy preferences and financial support. Two Sessions Representative: Pan Gang, Chairman and President of Yili Group As the chairman and president of Yili Group, Pan Gang believes that revitalizing the real economy has reached a critical juncture. Therefore, he gave his diagnosis on the real economy and the agricultural field, which he has frequently focused on in the past. As the helmsman of the leading domestic dairy enterprise, what would Pan Gang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and chairman and president of Yili Group, focus on? This year, Pan Gang's two proposals mainly focus on "striving to revitalize the real economy" and "promoting supply-side structural reform in agriculture," with content including "pain point" diagnosis and "therapy" suggestions. Regarding the reasons for paying so much attention to the real economy this year, Pan Gang said that revitalizing the real economy has reached a critical juncture. At present, China's real economy faces multiple challenges, including low R&D investment, insufficient or even lacking innovation capability; heavy tax burden, rising financing costs, and continuously increasing comprehensive costs; and speculative capital impacting the real industry without legal protection. For this reason, Pan Gang suggested that at this stage, the government should take the lead, jointly with leading enterprises in various industries and private capital, to establish industrial innovation R&D centers across the country, promote innovation strategies for real enterprises, jointly break through key technologies with industry commonality, and drive and lead the overall quality and efficiency improvement of the real economy. It is worth noting that revitalizing the real economy cannot be separated from the group of industrial entrepreneurs, so attention should be paid to the entrepreneurial spirit. Pan Gang believes: "The entrepreneurial spirit not only covers the spirit of innovation but also requires unremitting pursuit of quality." China's new generation of industrialists should have the courage to face reality, not avoid "pain points" and "shortcomings"; they should have both the spirit of innovation and the pursuit of excellent quality, just like Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple. As Pan Gang raised the question "Where is China's Steve Jobs?", the whole society needs to think about why China has not yet produced a large number of industrial entrepreneurs who combine the spirit of innovation and the pursuit of quality. In addition, Pan Gang has long been concerned about agricultural and people's livelihood issues. According to data, at the 2016 Two Sessions, Pan Gang submitted two proposals: "Proposal on Establishing a New Type of Inclusive Financial System for Agriculture" and "Proposal on Improving Safety Education for Children in Rural Areas," which were his third time in three years to submit proposals on these two topics. At the 2015 Two Sessions, Pan Gang proposed three proposals: "Proposal on Further Promoting the Healthy Development of the Dairy Industry," "Proposal on Promoting the Further Development of Inclusive Finance in the Agricultural Industry Chain," and "Proposal on Activating the Innovation Role of Enterprise Laboratories," and emphasized that financial support for small and micro enterprises and "agriculture, rural areas, and farmers" has improved compared to the past, but inclusive finance, as a grand systematic project, involves a wide range. To promote the development of inclusive finance in the industry chain and become a booster for the real economy, it requires not only the joint efforts of leading enterprises and financial institutions but also more policy support. At the 2014 Two Sessions, Pan Gang proposed a proposal to strengthen children's safety education. "The safety of rural children requires continuous attention and unremitting promotion from the whole society. This is my responsibility as a CPPCC member," Pan Gang said. Regarding this year's proposals, Pan Gang said in a telephone interview with reporters that CPPCC members shoulder the responsibility of participating in the discussion and administration of state affairs. From the preparation of proposals, they must closely follow the spirit of the central government and national policies, based on practice and research, to ensure the quality of proposals. Pan Gang, born in 1970, is the chairman and president of Yili Group. He holds a doctorate in economics from Renmin University of China, an EMBA from China Europe International Business School, and is a senior economist. In 2002, at the age of 32, Pan Gang became the president of Yili Group, making him the youngest president among China's 520 key industrial enterprises. In 2015, under Pan Gang's leadership, Yili achieved revenue exceeding 60 billion yuan, retaining the title of Asia's No. 1 dairy enterprise. Earlier this year, Yili was listed on the 2017 Global Brand 500 list by the well-known British brand evaluation institution Brand Finance, becoming the only Chinese dairy brand on the list. In Pan Gang's strategic goals, Yili is expected to rank among the top 5 global dairy enterprises in the future. Two Sessions Representative: Liu Yonghao, Chairman of New Hope Group The key to developing the real economy depends on whether enterprises are capable "Everyone says the real economy is under great pressure and faces many difficulties. Yes, because products are now in surplus, the market is not as good as before," Liu Yonghao changed the topic: "Everyone says the real economy is not doing well, but why is Midea still doing so well?" At this year's Two Sessions, Liu Yonghao, a National People's Congress representative and chairman of New Hope Group, directly raised this question at a press conference. As for the answer to this question, Liu Yonghao was confident: "Whether the real economy works depends on whether you and I work." Transformation and Upgrading At this year's Two Sessions, many entrepreneur committee members and representatives talked about the downward pressure on the real economy. Liu Yonghao also believes that enterprises are under great pressure. "Enterprise pressure comes from labor costs, which increase every year." Liu Yonghao viewed this issue dialectically: "Rising wages are beneficial to the people and also beneficial to enterprises. When people's incomes are high, their consumption capacity is high, which in turn promotes enterprise growth." In addition to rising labor costs, Liu Yonghao believes that enterprises' costs in safety and environmental protection are also increasing. "These costs are necessary because your products must be safer and more environmentally friendly." Liu Yonghao believes that the third pressure comes from the decline in product profits, because many products are now in surplus. "Due to competition, if you don't lower prices, others will. After lowering prices repeatedly, there is no money to be made, so gross margins are generally low, and many enterprises in the real economy are under great pressure. Costs are rising, and profit margins are shrinking." "In this situation, why are some enterprises doing well? Midea's sales are growing rapidly, and employee income is also growing rapidly. Why? Because they have done well in transformation and upgrading," Liu Yonghao asked and answered himself. He believes that originally, every province and city had many home appliance manufacturers. Now, the concentration is higher, meaning economies of scale are better, and the cost of R&D is spread over fewer products. At the same time, they have innovated products, improved scale and concentration, and become more adaptable to the market. "Transformation and upgrading means producing ordinary, non-generic products. If you are monotonous, you cannot sell at a good price, but if you change a style or a service, perhaps the people will need it," Liu Yonghao said. "Transformation is difficult. Where is the difficulty?" Liu Yonghao believes that many traditional manufacturing enterprises are familiar with old methods; they compress costs, expand scale, and adopt such means. "But today, costs cannot be compressed indefinitely. Expanding scale does not necessarily mean bigger is better. Even if your marketing is good and service is in place, if the product has not transformed, it still won't work." "The key is change, and change depends on people." Liu Yonghao said that many enterprise management teams are older and lack awareness of emerging internet marketing and transformation. "So we propose to rejuvenate the cadre team, using cadre rejuvenation to promote transformation and upgrading. It seems this is correct now." Liu Yonghao mentioned that when the real economy faces great difficulties and transformation pressure, New Hope Group has still made some progress. The key lies in the rejuvenation of the cadre management system, diversified transformation of the enterprise, and seeking a broader international market. Tax and Fee Reform Tax and fee reform is also a topic frequently mentioned by entrepreneur committee members and representatives at this year's Two Sessions. Liu Yonghao believes that many real enterprises feel that national taxes and fees are relatively high. "But in previous years, this was less reflected; recently, it has been more reflected. Why?" Liu Yonghao believes it is because in previous years, enterprises had larger profit margins. "If you earn more money, higher taxes and fees are not a problem." In addition, Liu Yonghao mentioned that in the past, various localities formulated a series of preferential policies. In fact, through preferential policies, taxes and fees were reduced. In recent years, with declining gross margins, product surplus, and fierce competition, taxes and fees appear higher. "For most enterprises, taxes and fees are higher than profits." Liu Yonghao conducted many surveys and found that the so-called "taxes and fees" actually refer to comprehensive taxes and fees, including corporate income tax, value-added tax, and other taxes, as well as tariffs, and the social insurance paid by enterprises for employees and the part that enterprises should bear. Liu Yonghao suggested that during the transition period, reducing taxes and fees for the real economy and transforming enterprises is helpful. The state has realized this and has taken measures to reduce and exempt, including replacing business tax with value-added tax. The effect of replacing business tax with value-added tax varies for different enterprises; some enterprises have different tax reductions, so the effects are different. "How can we help our entrepreneur group get through this hurdle and help everyone pass this test?" Liu Yonghao suggested providing help and support in policies, such as capital policies and industrial policies; through technological upgrading, service improvement, marketing enhancement, and especially through mergers and acquisitions to become stronger and bigger, the state should give some support, such as tax support for joint restructuring, and tilt key resources toward enterprises that become stronger and bigger. Two Sessions Representative: Wang Jinghai, Chairman and General Manager of Wondersun Dairy Co., Ltd. Wang Jinghai believes that when farmers can drink good milk, it will drive the revitalization of the national dairy industry. Our dairy enterprises should not only practice internal skills but also keep an eye on the world, align with international standards, and "go global" to gain experience. Avoiding "milk shortage" and "milk surplus" phenomena: government and enterprises must share responsibility The "milk shortage" and "milk surplus" phenomena in the domestic dairy industry have frequently cycled over the past decade or so. This phenomenon indicates that our industry is not yet standardized, and a virtuous cycle of development has not yet formed. To solve the problem of "milk shortage" and "milk surplus" that restricts the healthy development of China's dairy industry, we need to think from three aspects. First, the matching of production and consumption. The market consumption capacity of China's dairy industry does not match its production capacity. China's dairy production capacity ranks third in the world, but the national consumption of dairy products does not rank third. Second, the problem of "milk surplus." To a certain extent, the government should bear the responsibility for "milk surplus," and enterprises should shoulder the responsibility of not having "milk surplus," and even actively reduce the pressure on the breeding industry. Third, Chinese enterprises face international competition directly. They must not only make consumers trust our products in the domestic market and enhance consumer confidence but also display our product quality standards on the international stage and cultivate competitiveness. China's dairy industry must practice internal skills and also "go global" to gain experience We are planning a breakthrough in the international market. Wondersun already has product quality and standards with international competitiveness. The large pastures built by Wondersun in Beidahuang are standardized and normalized pastures that meet EU standards. Whether it is milk fat or protein indicators, they are compared with EU standards. Can such good products participate in international competition? I think there are breakthrough points, but the pressure is still considerable. First, the cost of milk sources. The cost of fresh milk internationally is very low; most of them are family pastures with their own land, while we have to rent land, buy feed, invest in pasture construction, and channel costs are also high. This makes our final products lack price competitiveness. Second, to reduce raw material and channel costs, I think we should find ways to start from the source, through government policy adjustments, reduce raw material and channel costs, and give the national industry a competitive advantage in international competition. On the other hand, we must "go global" to gain experience. We must align with international standards, keep an eye on the world, cooperate effectively with international enterprises, and promote the national industry to go abroad. When farmers drink good milk, it will surely drive the revitalization of the national dairy industry Remote rural areas are the vast market for China's dairy industry. If dairy products can cover remote rural areas and enable farmers to drink good milk, it will surely drive the revitalization of the national dairy industry because they are the best consumption drivers. Large enterprises should not only focus on high-end consumer groups but should better meet the consumption needs of the general public. So this time, in my proposal, I mentioned that the state should popularize milk drinking knowledge, enhance the drinking habits of the whole people, and improve our physical fitness. A glass of milk can make a nation healthy. 'Don't let people whip cows' - enterprises build dairy brands with stories To shape a good brand image, enterprises must not only focus on quality but also tell the dairy story well, let consumers understand corporate culture, and enhance consumer confidence. Wondersun was formerly developed by 100,000 demobilized soldiers in Beidahuang, and it is an enterprise created by military culture. When educated youth went there, they integrated the educated youth culture, enhancing Wondersun's cultural heritage. Believing in the "cow doctrine" of "rather a cow bumps a person than a person whips a cow" is the best interpretation of Wondersun people integrating quality awareness into their bones. To raise cows well, one must be cow-oriented. Zhang Yuanpei of Wondersun, adhering to the "cow doctrine," led a group of animal husbandry workers to establish Wondersun's own milk source base, enabling the enterprise to steadily embark on the path of sustainable development. He devoted his life to successfully raising dairy cows in high-cold regions. The spirit of Beidahuang, characterized by hard work, plain living, and selfless dedication, has shaped the character of Wondersun people, enabling old enterprises like Wondersun to still radiate vitality in the new era. Some quality indicators of Chinese dairy products are higher than EU standards According to the "National Dairy Industry Development Plan (2016-2020)", in the first half of 2016, the Food and Drug Administration sampled 14,249 batches of dairy products, with a pass rate of 99.7%. Wang Jinghai believes that such a pass rate should rank first in the world. First, after the melamine incident, China's dairy production equipment is the most advanced in the world. Over the years, equipment renovation has been completed with huge investment. Second, China has bought the world's most advanced testing instruments. Third, China's pastures have basically completed the transformation from loose breeding to standardized and scaled breeding. Therefore, compared with foreign counterparts, there is no gap in China's breeding standards and milk source standards, and even in some areas, our standardization is higher than foreign counterparts. Source: Compiled by , referenced from: Hushu Youli, Consumer Observer, Xinhua Net -END-