Meal delivery: Beijing asks the sector to reduce its commissions

The action of the Chinese meal delivery specialist Meituan lost nearly 15% on the stock market on Friday, after an injunction from Beijing calling on the sector to reduce its commissions.

Meituan is a digital giant whose activity in China mainly focuses on the delivery of meals and fresh products.

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Against the background of regulatory tightening in the technology sector, the authorities are particularly intransigent against practices that were previously tolerated and widely spread.

Since last year, many companies have been pinned, including Meituan, for anti-competitive practices.

On Friday, the powerful Economic Planning Agency (NDRC) called on meal delivery platforms to “cut more” their commissions, as the restaurant industry struggles to recover from the Covid-19 outbreak.

These directives made the Meituan share price drop by nearly 15% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where the group is listed.

Already at the beginning of the week, Beijing had pledged to provide more support to SMEs and in particular the service sector, seriously penalized by the epidemic.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are the main source of employment in China, of which catering is a key sector.

Meal delivery is particularly popular in China.

Every day at lunchtime, an army of scooter delivery men criss-cross the streets of the country to feed millions of employees.

The tech giants reign over this flourishing sector, with a lot of smartphone applications and algorithms.