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China's Consumer Market Keeps Upward Trend
China's consumer market maintained its upward momentum in August by seeing higher growth in retail sales on a year-on-year basis and also over July.
According to figures the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released today, retail sales nationwide totaled 263.63 billion yuan in August, up 9.3 percent in a year-on-year comparison. The growth rate was 0.2 percentage points higher than in July and 3.3 percentage points higher than in August last year.
However, as the NBS pointed out, the gap between consumer markets in urban and rural areas remained great. August's retail sales in urban areas soared 10.5 percent on an annual basis to 165.14 billion yuan, while that in rural areas grew by only 7.5 percent to 98.49 billion yuan. In terms of growth rate, the rural market lagged behind the urban market by three percentage points.
The competition in the market was also keen. According to the NBS, the price reductions of domestic color TVs have caused some foreign brands to cut down their prices.
Increasing sales of seasonal commodities and advertising campaigns by retail companies also helped invigorate the consumer market, the bureau said.
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