China’s total retail sales of consumer goods reached approximately 16.49 trillion yuan (US$2.42 trillion) during the January to April period. When excluding sales of automobiles, retail turnover climbed by 3.1 per cent to 15.2 trillion yuan, the Xinhua news agency reports.

Service retail sales registered particularly strong growth, increasing 5.6 per cent year-on-year in the first four months, representing an acceleration of 0.1 percentage points from the first quarter. This rapid expansion was seen across telecommunications and information services, tourism and rental services, cultural and recreational services, as well as transport and travel services.

Geographically, rural retail sales posted quicker growth, increasing 2.8 per cent year-on-year to 2.2 trillion yuan. This outstripped urban retail sales, which totalled 14.29 trillion yuan and saw a 1.8 per cent rise during the same period.

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Online consumption remains a crucial element of growth, with total online retail sales of goods and services reaching 6.53 trillion yuan, a 6.6 per cent increase year-on-year. Online sales of services rose 8.3 per cent to 2.41 trillion yuan. Meanwhile, online goods sales grew 5.7 per cent to nearly 4.12 trillion yuan, accounting for 25 per cent of all consumer goods retail sales.

However, when considered in isolation the month of April saw a slight cooling: total retail sales edged up just 0.2 per cent year-on-year, and volumes decreased 0.48 per cent compared to March. 

Officials attributed this slowdown in part to a high comparison base from April last year and stressed that the overall trajectory of consumption growth remains constant. They also observed that new formats of consumption had further expanded, service retail sales had gathered pace, and certain consumer goods continued to exhibit comparatively fast growth.