China's Ministry of Commerce: ”Overall consumer market is developing steadily” - Chinese media

The Ministry of Commerce of China announced the state of China's consumer market in January and February of this year, stating that "Since the beginning of this year, the consumer market has shown a stable growth overall due to the expansion of the scope of application of consumer goods replacement policies.
The total retail sales of social consumer goods in January and February rose 4.0% year-on-year to 8.3731 trillion yen (about 173.5 trillion yen), a growth rate of 0.5 percentage points higher than the same period last year.
During the same period, retail sales of merchandise increased by 3.9%, and the growth rate increased by 0.7 percentage points. The effect of the replacement policy was seen, and the number of companies exceeding the limit increased by 1.2 percentage points.
The retail value of communication equipment increased by 26.2% year-on-year, while the retail value of cultural and office supplies increased by 21.8% year-on-year, showing a significant increase. Consumption of services is continuing to grow. During the same period, retail value of services increased by 4.
This was an increase of 9%. Of this, restaurant revenue increased by 4.3%. In addition, retail sales of travel consultation and rental services and mobility services increased by double digits compared to the same period last year.
Consumption in rural areas is booming. During the same period, retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas increased by 4.6% to 1.13 trillion former (approximately 23.4 trillion yen), a growth rate 0.8 percentage points slower than urban areas.
The proportion of retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas to the total retail sales of social consumer goods rose 0.1 percentage point to 13.5%.