Retail Sales up 11% in MayChina's consumer goods market was active in May, fueled by the May Day festival, according to a report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).Figures indicate that the country's retail sales of consumer goods reached 263.7 billion yuan (US$31.8 billion) in May, up 11.5 per cent from May 1999. The growth rate was the highest in a single month since the beginning of this year, the report said. The bureau attributed the rapid growth in the sale of consumer goods to the May Day festival. About 46 million people travelled during the festival, generating 18.1 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion) for the tourism industry. The surge in tourism heated up the consumer goods market, the bureau said. Retail sales rose 2.5 per cent in May compared with April. The bureau noted that medium and large Chinese cities were the major beneficiaries of the festival. The retail sales in these cities rose 12.6 per cent year-on-year to 164.2 billion yuan (US$19.8 billion) in May. The growth rate was higher than in cities at the county level or lower, the bureau said. According to the bureau, consumer prices also rose slightly in May compared with the same month last year. The price index was relatively stable in the first five months of 2000 compared with the same period last year, the bureau said. |
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