On September 17, the official of the MOFCOM Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion introduced the operation situation of the consumption market of China in August 2019.

The official pointed out that the current consumer market is generally stable. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the total retail sales of consumer goods of the whole country reached 3.4 trillion yuan in August, with a year-on-year increase of 7.5%. The growth rate dropped by 0.1 percentage points compared with that of the previous month. The retail sales of consumer goods excluding automobiles increased by 9.3%, 0.5 percentage points times faster than that of the previous month. The retail sales of key enterprises monitored by MOFCOM increased by 2.3% in August year on year, staying the same as that of the previous month. The main features in the consumption market were as follows:

First, the consumption of catering and entertainment heated up. In August, the national catering revenue was 385.7 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 9.7%, 0.3 percentage points higher than that of the previous month. The retail sales of cultural office supplies above the designated size increased by 19.8% year on year, accelerating by 5.3 percentage points compared with that of the previous month. According to relevant data, the box office in August reached 7.8 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 13.8%.

Second, the basic living expenses were high. In August, the retail sales of daily necessities, cosmetics, tobacco and alcohol, grain, oil, food and beverages above the designated size increased by 13.0%, 12.8%, 12.6%, 12.5% and 10.4% respectively. In the first eight months of online retailing of physical goods, food, clothing and everyday merchandise increased by 30.6%, 19.7% and 20.2% respectively.

Third, online retail sales grew faster. In August, the network retail sales of enterprises mainly monitored by MOFCOM increased by 16.6% year on year, 1.9 percentage points higher than that of the previous month, 15.2, 10.9 and 9.1 percentage points higher than those of department stores, convenience stores and supermarkets respectively. According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, the online retail sales of physical goods increased by 20.8% from January to August, accounting for 19.4% of total social retails, increasing by 2.1 percentage points over the same period of the previous year.

Fourth, consumer prices rose moderately. In August, the national consumer price rose by 2.8% year on year, the same as that of last month; the core CPI excluding food and energy prices rose by 1.5%, a drop of 0.1 percentage points compared with that of the previous month. The price of edible agricultural products in the 36 large and medium-sized cities monitored by MOFCOM increased by 14.8% year on year in August, and the cumulative increase in January-August was 7.3% year on year.

The official said that China's consumer market is still in a rising period, with great market potential, strong development resilience and good growth. With the implementation of a series of policy measures such as tax reduction and fee reduction, opening up, improving people's livelihood and promoting commercial consumption, the effects of consumption promoting will continue to come out. It is expected that consumption will continue to grow steadily later.