China’s retail sales up 10.7% in May

2017-06-14
Xinhua

BEIJING — Boosted by strong online sales, China’s retail sales grew 10.7 percent year on year in May, signalling continued strength in consumption, official data showed on June 14.

Total retail sales of consumer goods hit 2.95 trillion yuan (about $434.2 billion) last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The 10.7 percent growth pace was on par with that in April and 0.7 percentage points faster on a year-on-year basis.

In first five months, total retail sales of consumer goods rose 10.3 percent year on year, 0.1 percentage points faster than the growth in the first four months.

Online shopping saw robust growth, with total online retail sales hitting 2.47 trillion yuan in the first five months, up 32.5 percent year on year.

Physical goods sold online surged 26.5 percent year on year in the January-May period, accounting for 13.2 percent of total retail sales.

Consumption was relatively stronger in rural areas, with retail sales expanding 12.7 percent in May, outpacing urban areas, where retail sales climbed 10.4 percent year on year.

China is trying to shift its economy toward a growth model driven by consumer spending, innovation and services, while weaning it off over-reliance on exports and investment.

On June 14, NBS data also showed that China’s fixed-asset investment grew 8.6 percent year on year in the first five months this year, while value-added industrial output expanded 6.5 percent year on year in May.