Ministry of Commerce: The consumer market continues to show a steady recovery trend
On the 18th, the head of the Consumer Promotion Department of the Ministry of Commerce stated that in April, China's consumer market continued to show a steady recovery trend, with traditional consumption upgrading and new consumption flourishing. Service consumption continued to recover, and the total retail sales of consumer goods (hereinafter referred to as social retail sales) reached 3.3 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.7% and an increase of 8.8% compared to the same period in 2019. From January to April, the total amount of social retail in China was 13.8 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.6% and an increase of 8.6% compared to the same period in 2019.
Among them, mid to high end consumption has grown rapidly. Data shows that in April, the retail sales of goods increased by 15.1% year-on-year, an increase of 9.8% compared to the same period in 2019. From a structural perspective, the retail sales of gold, silver, jewelry, clothing, shoes, hats, building materials, furniture, and cosmetics by units above designated size increased by 48.3%, 31.2%, 30.8%, 21.7%, and 17.8% year-on-year, respectively. The sales of duty-free goods at Hainan offshore duty-free shops increased by 2.5 times year-on-year. The sales of some large shopping centers and outlets in Shanghai increased by more than 60% year-on-year, and the sales of high-end products of some time-honored gold and silver jewelry enterprises more than doubled.
The new type of consumption is flourishing. From January to April, the online retail sales of physical goods reached 3.1 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.1%, accounting for 22.2% of the total social retail sales; The volume of express delivery services has exceeded 30 billion pieces, a year-on-year increase of about 60%. The sales of new energy vehicles reached 732000 units, a year-on-year increase of 2.5 times, accounting for 8.4% of the total automobile sales; There were 5.445 million second-hand car transactions, a year-on-year increase of 74.6%, and the ratio to new car sales increased to 0.62:1. Some e-commerce platforms have seen a year-on-year increase of over 50% in sales of products such as smart bathrooms, smart lighting, and smart door locks.
Service consumption has further recovered. The person in charge introduced that in April, the catering revenue increased by 46.4% year-on-year, an increase of 0.8% compared to the same period in 2019. From January to April, the cumulative growth rate was 67.7% year-on-year, close to the same period in 2019. During the Qingming Festival holiday, 102 million domestic tourists traveled, a year-on-year increase of 144.6%, returning to 94.5% of the same period before the epidemic; The box office revenue of the movie exceeded 800 million yuan, setting a historical record for the same period.
Meanwhile, consumer prices remain stable. In April, consumer prices for residents increased by 0.9% year-on-year and decreased by 0.3% month on month. From a structural perspective, food prices decreased by 0.7% year-on-year, with pork prices decreasing by 21.4% and non food prices increasing by 1.3%; Consumer goods prices increased by 1%, and service prices increased by 0.7%. On average from January to April, consumer prices for residents increased by 0.2% compared to the same period last year.
Overall, the consumer market continues to recover, but the recovery is still uneven, the foundation is not yet stable, and the recovery in some areas is relatively slow. The person in charge said that in the next step, with the implementation of various policies and measures to expand domestic demand and promote consumption, and the continuous optimization of the supply structure, it is expected that the consumer market will continue to show a stable recovery momentum.
Information source: Economic Reference Report
