The Spring Festival is an important traditional festival and a peak shopping season. This year, the Spring Festival holiday spanned eight days. The consumer market, characterized by strong festive atmosphere, vitality and popularity, witnessed a rapid growth and was off to a good start. The main highlights are as follows:

First, rich activities. The Ministry of Commerce held activities such as the National Online New Year Shopping Festival, Time-honored Brands Carnival, and Chinese Fashion Products Festival, and encouraged local governments to organize various forms of consumption promotion campaigns that suit local conditions. Major business districts were brimming with vitality. Traffic and turnover of the national demonstration pedestrian streets increased by 32.9% and 36.1%.

Second, there were numerous highlights in retail sales. During the Spring Festival, festival goods, domestic fashion products, green and intelligent products were among the best sellers. Major retailers monitored by the Ministry of Commerce witnessed growth in sales of gold, silver and jewelry, sports and entertainment supplies and communication equipment by 23.8%, 15.6% and 10.4%.

Third, service consumption grew rapidly. Sales of major catering enterprises monitored by MOFCOM increased by about 17% year-on-year. Domestic tourists spent 632.687 billion yuan on their trips, up 47.3% year on year. Box office reached 8.016 billion yuan, a record high for the Spring Festival.

Forth, new growth drivers of consumption were released. Green and healthy consumption grew rapidly. Major e-commerce platforms monitored by MOFCOM witnessed growth in instant sales by 32.2% year-on-year. The sales of green and organic food in some large supermarket chains increased by nearly 20%. The sales of cycling and skiing equipment on some e-commerce platforms increased by more than 50%.

Fifth, rural consumption was effectively stimulated. During the Spring Festival this year, many people chose to return to their hometowns for family reunion, driving consumption of rural food, tourism, and agricultural products. Major e-commerce platforms monitored by MOFCOM saw rural retail sales increase by 16.1% year on year.

In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will work on the campaigns of the “Year of Consumption Promotion”, implement various policies and measures to stimulate consumption. Tonight, Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei will jointly hold the launching ceremony of the “National Consumption Promotion Month 2024”. Considering the Spring Festival consumption season and effect of numerous policies and measures, the consumer market is expected to maintain steady growth in the first quarter. Thank you.