On October 20, the Head of the MOFCOM Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion introduced the operation situation of the consumption market in the first three quarters of 2016.
According to the statistics of the State Statistics Bureau, the total national retail sales of consumer goods in the first three quarters reached RMB23.85 trillion, up 10.4% year on year. The growth was 0.1 percentage points faster than that of the first half of the year. In September, the total national retail sales of consumer goods increased 10.7%, 0.1 percentage points faster than those of last month, marking the highest monthly growth since this year. According to the monitoring of the MOFCOM, the accumulative growth of the sales volume of 5,000 major retail enterprises was 0.1 percentage points faster year on year than that of the first half of this year. Among these, the growth in September also created a new high since this year.
The Head of the MOFCOM Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion pointed out that since this year, the domestic consumption market has operated smoothly on the whole and played an important role in stabilizing the economic growth. In the first three quarters, the final consumption expenditure contributed 71% to the growth of the gross domestic product, 13.3 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year. The major features of the consumption markets were:
1. The new business enjoyed a rapid development. The retail of on-line commodities remained a high-speed growth. In the first three quarters, according to the statistics of the State Statistics Bureau, the on-line retail sales of physical commodity went up 25.1% year on year and its proportion in the total retail sales of consumer goods was improved by 11.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than those of the same period of last year. The growth of online retail of enterprises monitored by the MOFCOM was respectively 24.3 and 18.5 percentage points higher than that of shopping mall and supermarket year on year. In other retail businesses, the sales volume of shopping centers and convenience stores enjoyed a fast development, 2.9 and 2.8 percentage points higher than the general growth of the retail.
2. Living consumption continued to grow. The development of real estate market drove the rapid development of the consumption of relevant housing commodities. In the first three quarters, the sales volume of living commodities of enterprises monitored by the MOFCOM increased 0.5 percentage points over the same period last year. Among these, the sales volumes of building materials, furniture and household appliances increased 10.6%, 11.3% and 10.2% respectively year on year, 3.4, 0.4 and 0.3 percentage points faster than those of the same period last year respectively.
3. The sales of the automobile commodities sped up obviously. Driven by the policies, the upgrading of consumption and the lower cardinal number of the same period last year, the growth of automobile consumption was improved. According to the statistics by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the automobile sales volume in January-September hit 19.36 million, up 13.2% year on year, 12.9 and 5.5 percentage points faster over the same period last year and the first half of this year. In September, the sales went up 26.1% year on year, 1.9 percentage points faster than those in August. Among these, the sales of SUV and MPV went up 54.2% and 37.3% year on year respectively. The sales of new energy automobile maintained a relatively high growth with an accumulative growth of 100.6% year on year.
4. The service consumption hotspots continued to spring up. With faster and faster upgrading of the consumption structure, the consumer demands of mass catering and entertainment continued to grow. In the first three quarters, the income of the catering enterprises of the whole country reached about RMB2.6 trillion, up 11% year on year, 0.6 percentage points higher than the consumption growth. In September, the growth of the sales income of western fast food and Chinese fast food enterprises mainly monitored by the MOFCOM is 12.4 and 7 percentage points higher than those of the western and Chinese dinner. The income of film box office entered a stably increasing stage. In the first three quarters, the income of national film box office reached RMB35.54 billion, up 8.6% year on year. The viewers numbered 1.058 billion, up 14.6% year on year. The tourism industry maintained its high boom. The tourism market in summer holidays and festivals was in great demand and the high-quality tourism products were welcomed in the market.
5. Consumer price rose slightly. In the first three quarters, CPI was up 2.0% year on year, 0.1 percentage points lower than that of the first half of this year. In September, CPI was up 1.9%, 0.6 percentage points higher than that of last month, marking the first expansion of the price growth in the past five months. In January-September, in 36 large and medium size cities monitored by the Ministry of Commerce, the prices of agricultural products were up 4.9% year on year, 2.6 percentage points slower than those in the first half of this year. In terms of variety, in September, the price of pork went up 3.3% year on year, 1 percentage points lower than that of last month and the growth narrowed for 4 months in a row. The price of vegetables increased 2.6% year on year and the price of eggs went down 5.4% year on year, 4.2 percentage points lower than that of last month. The price of beef and mutton decreased 2.6% and 6.9% year on year respectively.
He said that with the general stable development of national economy, the continued upgrading of household consumption and the arrival of the peak season of traditional consumption in the fourth quarter, the consumption market is expected to extend the stable and better development situation.
Source: http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/article/newsrelease/significantnews/201610/20161001463489.shtml
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