Visitors wear smart glasses during the sixth China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, April 13, 2026. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)
BEIJING, June 9 (Xinhua) -- China's consumption sector sustained a steady recovery last month, while its emerging industries posted strong growth momentum, according to data from a government think tank.
The country's offline consumption payments climbed 2.4 percent year on year in May, with the pace of growth accelerating by 0.7 percentage points from the previous month, according to the State Information Center (SIC), a think tank under the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner.
A detailed breakdown highlights a strong performance in certain sectors, with consumption of electronic products, catering services and transport services posting robust growth of 9.7 percent, 5.4 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.
Xing Yuguan, a researcher with the SIC, attributed the recovery in the consumption sector to the country's consumer goods trade-in program and policies aimed at bolstering service consumption as well as the boost provided by the May Day holiday.
Beyond the consumption sector, the SIC data also revealed an industrial shift toward emerging and intelligent sectors.
According to the SIC, investment in frontier fields like AI and humanoid robots soared in May, while the value of winning bids for infrastructure projects in computing power, data, networks and other sectors surged 106.9 percent year on year.
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