BEIJING, June 16 (Xinhua) -- China's consumption has been increasingly improved as business resumption accelerates and people are gradually back to the normal life amid the sound prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic, reported Securities Daily Monday quoted an official as saying.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that China's total retail sales of consumer goods in May this year was 3,197.3 billion yuan, down 2.8 percent year on year, narrower than the decline of last month by 4.7 percentage points.
This is the third consecutive month for China to see a narrowed market sales decline, which attributes to the sound epidemic prevention and control in the country, as well as multiple policies to expand domestic demand and boost consumption, said Zhang Min, a statistician with the Department of Trade and External Economic Relations Statistics of NBS.
The online retail sales of physical goods continued to grow quickly. In the first five months this year, China's online retail sales of physical goods increased by 11.5 percent year on year and accounted for 24.3 percent of the country's total retail sales of consumer goods, 5.4 percentage points higher over the same period of 2019.
Data from the State Post Bureau of China show that China's express delivery volume in May this year surged 41 percent year on year, with business revenue increasing by 25 percent. The catering and accommodation sectors have seen improved operations.
In May this year, the catering income dropped by 18.9 percent year on year, 12.2 percentage points narrower than the decline in April. The catering revenue reaped by accommodation and catering enterprises with annual main business revenue exceeding 2 million yuan through public networks realized a year-on-year increase of over 20 percent in May.
In May, the decline of the room income by accommodation enterprises with annual main business revenue exceeding 2 million yuan was about ten percentage points narrower than that in April.
The consumption of cars, construction and decoration materials, as well as household appliances and audio-visual equipment increased by 3.5 percent, 1.9 percent and 4.3 percent year on year respectively in May, noted Wen Bin, chief researcher with China Minsheng Bank. According to him, in May, the consumption of grain, oil and food, daily necessities, communication devices, as well as cosmetics grew by 11.4 percent, 12.9 percent, 11.4 percent and 12.9 percent year on year, respectively. (Edited by Gu Shanshan with Xinhua Silk Road, gushanshan.1987@163.com)
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