A farmer in ethnic Qiang costume sells local products via livestream in Beichuan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Nov. 14, 2020. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)
BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- The rural consumer market in China is expected to keep a rapid growth as the country is unveiling more policies to support it, reported Economic Information Daily Wednesday.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas of China notched 454.7 billion yuan in July this year, an increase of 8.8 percent year on year, 0.4 percentage point higher than that in urban areas.
According to Dong Lihua, head of the trade and economy department of NBS, the rural consumer market has shown significant recovery since March this year with the favorable outcome of Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control in China, and the retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas rose by 14.3 percent year on year in the second quarter this year, with the two-year average growth logging 4.8 percent.
China's retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas reached 5.3 trillion yuan in 2020, accounting for about 13.52 percent of the total retail sales of consumers goods of the country which stood at 39.2 trillion yuan, presenting huge potential, said Hong Yong, an associate researcher at the Institute of E-commerce Research of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAITEC).
In recent years, the upgrading of the rural consumption has shown sound momentum, and the retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas has grown faster than that in urban areas for eight consecutive years, noted Hong.
The increase in the income of rural residents has also laid the foundation for further rural consumption growth.
Hong pointed out that in 2020, the per capita disposable income of rural residents registered 17,131 yuan, up 3.8 percent from 2019 which is 2.6 percent faster than that of urban residents, and the figure in areas lifted out of poverty rose to 12,588 yuan in 2020 from 6,079 yuan in 2013, registering an average annual growth rate of 11.6 percent.
China's country commercial system will be further improved and the consumption potential of rural residents will be further released with the accelerating construction of the new development pattern, and thus rural areas will gradually become the areas boasting the greatest consumption growth potential in China, noted Hong.
Recently, China has enhanced policy support to expand consumption in rural areas, involving connecting the e-commerce systems in counties, townships and villages, improving the express delivery logistics distribution systems in rural areas, securing the employment and adding the income of rural residents, and strengthening the construction of county commercial systems, etc..
As vital nodes for rural consumption, 21,000 towns are expected to receive more financial input and investment and financing support, and may usher in the peak of business circulation system construction.
Insiders noted that the township- and village-level consumer market account for 38 percent of China's total consumer market, and has huge consumption potential.
They believe that the total retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas can maintain an average annual growth rate of around 7 percent in the next ten years, and is expected to reach 10 trillion yuan in 2030.
(Edited by Gu Shanshan with Xinhua Silk Road, gushanshan.1987@163.com)
A single purchase
