China moves to outlaw food delivery price wars

The draft rules, open for comment until July 17, explicitly prohibit companies from leveraging capital advantages to engage in monopolistic practices or selling services below cost. The initiative follows repeated warnings from authorities against the "race to the bottom" mentality that has defined the industry. Beyond these new restrictions, the agency has already launched a special inspection campaign running through December to monitor excessive price wars across sectors, including live-streaming and instant retail.

Major market players have publicly aligned with the regulatory shift. Meituan, which recently reported a third consecutive quarterly loss, stated it would work to define compliance boundaries for its subsidy programs. Similarly, Alibaba’s Taobao Shangou pledged to support a more orderly competitive environment. These responses arrive as the intense rivalry between industry giants like Meituan and JD.com finally shows signs of cooling.