China’s Jan-Feb retail sales up 5.5%, with market demand lifted by healthy economic activity, holidays

China's total retail sales of consumer goods in the first two months of 2024 hit 8.13 trillion yuan ($1.13 trillion), increasing 5.5 percent year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) unveiled on Monday.

Liu Aihua, spokesperson for the NBS, said during the press conference that China's market demand was lifted as sales continued to recover, consumption potential of upgraded goods was released, and service consumption was boosted by a number of major festivals and holidays in January and February.

Specifically, the retail sales of goods during the period reached 7.18 trillion yuan, up by 4.6 percent from the same period last year. The sales of upgraded goods grew fast, including telecommunication equipment, sports and entertainment and motor vehicles by enterprises above the designated size went up year-on-year by 16.2 percent, 11.3 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively.

Notably, retail sales of services grew by 12.3 percent year-on-year, and the producer price index of the sector also saw 5.8 percent year-on-year increase, NBS data showed.

Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Research Institute told the Global Times on Monday that the remarkable growth in the service sector will further facilitate an economic consumption upgrade as services gain a greater share in the general consumption structure, and positive indicators generated strong foundation and market confidence for the economic recovery throughout the year.

"In the first two months of this year, national economy showed a steady start and growth with the macro policies taking into effect, and sustained recovery of economic operations and strong impetus of the Spring Festival holiday," said Liu, while noting that problems including insufficient domestic effective demand still exist and that foundation for a sustained economic recovery needs to be further consolidated.

The Government Work Report released in this year's two sessions stated that China needs to promote the steady growth of consumer spending by implementing consumer goods trade-in programs and boost spending on intelligent connected new-energy vehicles, electronic products, and other big-ticket items.

Zhang noted that the policy will further boost goods consumption and coordinate with service consumption growth to optimize national consumption structure.