BEIJING: China’s retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of consumption growth, grew 17.7 percent year-on-year in April, as consumption-driven post-pandemic recovery is gaining pace in the world’s second largest economy.
In the month, retail sales of consumer goods reached 3.32 trillion yuan ($515.9 billion), up 0.32 percent month-on-month, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday.
In the first four months of 2021, China’s retail sales of consumer goods grew 29.6 percent year-on-year to reach 13.84 trillion yuan. Meanwhile, e-commerce has kept brisk as Chinese consumers are increasingly embracing the new shopping habit, with online sales up 27.6 percent year-on-year in the first four months. Chinese consumer confidence continues to grow thanks to the government’s effective measures to put the coronavirus outbreak largely under control. And, escalating export growth since the beginning of 2021 has driven up residents’ incomes across the board, Tian Yun, former vice director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times.
The latest data from the General Administration of Customs showed that the country’s export growth beat market expectations to gain 32.3 percent year-on-year to hit $263.92 billion in April, while imports for the month rose 43.1 percent year-on-year, underscoring China’s continuous robust economic activity. In addition to consumption growth, China’s industrial output and investment also posted fast recovery in April, reflecting the world’s second-largest economy continues to gain momentum after achieving record-setting 18.3 percent yearly GDP growth in the first quarter. The country’s industrial output rose at a faster-than-expected rate of 9.8 percent year-on-year in April, while fixed asset investment increased 19.9 percent from a year ago from January to April. It’s worth noting that new growth momentum of Chinese economy continues to expand, with the industrial added-value and capital investments across a full spectrum of new and high technologies reporting higher growth rates. According to the NBS, the industrial output of the high-tech manufacturing sector rose 12.7 percent year-on-year in April, while the investment in the high-tech sector rose 28.8 percent year-on-year. While the low base last year helped contribute to the impressive economic indicators, other figures like producer price index (PPI) show that the recovery is broad-based, Tian said, noting those figures are projected to remain at a high level in the second quarter.
– The Daily Mail-Global Times News exchange item
