On July 15, the Official of the Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion introduced the operation situation of China’s consumer market in the first half year of 2016.

The official introduced that in January-June 2016, the retail sales of consumer goods reached RMB 15.6 trillion, going up 10.3% year on year, 0.1 percentage points higher than that of the first five months; the retail sales of consumer goods in June went up 10.6%, 0.6 percentage points higher than that in May. It is the highest growth rate of a single month this year. In June, the actual growth rate (price factor excluded) of the retail sales of the 5,000 enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce was 0.2 percentage points higher than that in May, realizing a four-month going up.
The official pointed out that in the first half year of 2016, China’s consumer market realized a stable growth, and mainly presented the following features:

1. The online retail sales and part of real economy maintained a rapid growth. Online retail remained a rapid growth. According to the statistics of National Bureau of Statistics, in January-June, the online retail sales of the national physical commodities was up 26.6% year on year with the accumulated growth rate speeding up for two consecutive months; its proportion in the total retail sales of consumer goods was further promoted to 11.6%, 0.8 percentage points higher than the total amount of the whole 2015. Among the entity businesses, the sales of shopping malls, convenience stores and supermarkets enjoyed a relatively rapid growth, with a growth rate of 7.5%, 7.3% and 6.8% respectively.

2. The growth rate of rural areas and Middle and Western China took the lead. The growth of rural consumption was higher than that of urban areas. In the first half year, the rural retail sales of consumer goods reached RMB 2.2 trillion, up 11.0% year on year, 0.8 percentage points higher than that of the urban areas, maintaining the trend that is higher than that of the urban area since 2013. The consumer market of the Middle and Western China has an accelerated growth. In January-May, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Anhui and Henan realized a rapid growth of 11.4% to 12.9%.

3. The sales of the automobile market picked up obviously. Impacted by the upgraded consumption and new policies such as halving the automobile purchase tax for 1.6 or lower liter cars, the sales of automobiles of enterprises above the designated size in January-June was up 7.7% year on year, 2.4 percentage points higher than that of the same period of last year; that in June was up 9.5%, accounting for 25.4% of the retail sales of consumer goods of the enterprises above the designated size, 0.8 percentage points higher than that of the same period of last year. In the first half year, the sales of the automobile was up 8.1% year on year; among these, the sale of passenger car of 1.6 liter or lower liters was up 17.9% year on year; the sales of SUV was up 44.3% year on year; and the sales of new energy automobiles was up 126.9% year on year.

4. The market of service consumption continued its expansion. In January-June, the national catering revenue was up 11.2% year on year, among which that of the enterprises above the designated size was up 6.6%, 0.3 percentage points higher than that of the same period of last year. The catering enterprises were active in transformation and development. Public catering and online take-out catering were welcomed. In June, the growth of the sales of the Chinese fast food of the catering enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce was 6.3 percentage points higher than that of Chinese a la carte meals. The consumption of culture and entertainment continued to thrive. In the first half year, the national film box office totaled RMB 24.6 billion, up 21% year on year. The demand in tourism market was great. In the first half year, the Chinese civil aviation transported passengers 230 million, up 12.5% year on year. During the “Dragon Boat Festival” Holiday, the tourism revenue of Hubei province and tourists to Hubei grew 13.5% and 12.6% respectively.

5. The price of life necessities fell slightly. In January-June, CPI was up 2.1% year on year, 0.8 percentage points higher than that of the same period of last year. The growth of the prices of pork and vegetable, whose price increased obviously at the beginning of the year, slowed down or decreased recently. In 36 large and medium size cities monitored by the Ministry of Commerce, the prices of the agricultural products in June were up 4.3% year on year, 2.1 percentage points slower than those in May, down 3.4% month on month. The wholesale price of pork was up 0.4% month on month, and up 31.8% year on year with the year-on-year growth 4.7 percentage points slower than that of May; the prices of vegetable and eggs decreased 4.6% and 1.1% respectively year on year.

The Official said with the implementation of China’s reform policies, the resident’s income increased steadily. It is expected that the consumer market in the second half year would enjoy a steady growth.