BEIJING, March 16 (Xinhua) -- China's retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of consumption growth, declined 20.5 percent year on year in the first two months of this year as the novel coronavirus outbreak took its toll on the economy, official data showed Monday.
Sales of the consumer goods totaled 5.2 trillion yuan (about 744 billion U.S. dollars) in the two months, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Meanwhile, retail sales excluding automobiles went down 18.9 percent.
Retail sales in rural areas dropped 19 percent year on year in the reporting period, while that in urban areas decreased 20.7 percent.
The decline came as efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have kept most people across China indoors, as well as shops and restaurants shut during the past two months.
Revenues of the catering sector, one of the worst-hit industries, fell 43.1 percent compared with the same period last year, said the NBS.
Meanwhile, online sales stayed relatively stable as consumers turned to online services when staying indoors, falling 3 percent year on year. Online sales of physical goods expanded 3 percent to 1.1 trillion yuan, accounting for 21.5 percent of the total retail sales in the first two months.
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