Ministry of Commerce: the consumer market is expected to continue to rise steadily

At a regular press conference on the 20th, Gao Feng, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said that at present, China's consumer market continues to recover steadily. In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to promote consumption promotion policies and play a promoting role. Meanwhile, it will actively build a consumption promotion platform and organize activities such as "one hundred cities and ten thousand enterprises to promote consumption" national consumption promotion month. He pointed out that with the further implementation of the policy and the continuous promotion of consumption upgrading, the consumer market is expected to continue to recover steadily.



Gaofeng said that in July, China's total retail sales of consumer goods were 3.22 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1.1%, a decrease of 0.7 percentage points compared with the previous month, and a cumulative decrease of 19.4 percentage points for five consecutive months. The consumer market showed a sustained upward trend. From January to July, China's retail sales of goods reached 2.9 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.2%, and the growth rate achieved positive growth for the first time since this year. Internet consumption is growing rapidly. From January to July, China's online retail sales reached 6.08 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9%.



Among them, service consumption accelerated the recovery. According to the data, the catering revenue in July decreased by 11.0% year-on-year, 4.2 percentage points lower than that in June and 7.9 percentage points lower than that in May. The business activity index of accommodation, catering and other industries was higher than that of last month, and the total business volume increased. The decrease rate of room income of accommodation Enterprises above the quota was 3.8 percentage points lower than that in June. The business volume and operating revenue of express service enterprises in China reached 6.94 billion pieces and 72.33 billion yuan respectively, with a year-on-year increase of 32.2% and 18.9%.



In addition, Internet consumption is growing rapidly. From January to July, China's online retail sales reached 6.08 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.0%, 1.7 percentage points higher than that of January June. Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods were 5.1 trillion yuan, up 15.7% year-on-year, 1.4 percentage points faster than the previous month, accounting for 25.0% of the total amount of social zero.



However, novel coronavirus pneumonia is still facing certain constraints due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic. The consumption of catering and accommodation services has recovered, but the rate of recovery is less than that of retail sales. In July, food and beverage income decreased by 11% year-on-year, and the consumption of non necessities such as textile and clothing, furniture and household appliances has not recovered to the level before the epidemic.



On the following specific measures to promote consumption, Gao Feng said that in the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will further play the role of policy promotion and actively build a consumption promotion platform on the basis of continuously promoting the implementation of the policies and measures for promoting consumption. From September 9 to October 8, the Ministry of Commerce will organize and carry out the national consumption promotion month activity of "one hundred cities and ten thousand enterprises to promote consumption" nationwide. In addition, we will strengthen the summary and promotion of local typical experience in promoting consumption, and give full play to the role of demonstration and driving.



"Generally speaking, China's consumer market has strong resilience and great potential, and the foundation for sustained recovery and growth of consumption is solid." Gaofeng said that with the continuous improvement of domestic epidemic prevention and control, the production and living order gradually returns to normal, and policy measures such as helping enterprises to stabilize jobs, relieving the burden and stabilizing consumption have been further implemented and effective, and China's consumption potential will continue to be released.