China's consumer market shows continued recovery in October

BEIJING, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's consumption gained traction in October with faster sales growth and improving consumer sentiment thanks to favorable government policies.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday that retail sales of consumer goods went up 4.8 percent year on year last month, quickening from the 3.2 percent increase in September.

China's consumer market showed more signs of recovery in October, as the week-long National Day holiday witnessed booming tourism, an annual shopping festival led to increasing sales across the country, and warming stock and property markets also bolstered consumer confidence.

Consumption emerged as a bright spot in the economy, NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui told a press conference Friday.

Specifically, driven by the national trade-in program, household appliances and audio-visual equipment reported a 39.2 percent surge in combined sales compared to a year earlier, and the sales of stationery and office supplies jumped 18 percent. Furniture and automobiles also saw increases of 7.4 percent and 3.7 percent in sales, respectively.

The government introduced the large-scale equipment upgrade and consumer goods trade-in program in March this year to expand domestic demand and shore up the economy. Under the program, consumers receive subsidies for replacing products ranging from phones to cars.

Fu said the sales of major trade-in products contributed 1.2 percentage points of the overall retail sales growth in October.

In the first 10 months, retail sales of consumer goods expanded 3.5 percent from a year earlier, 0.2 percentage points higher than the January-September period. In particular, the increase of online sales of physical goods accelerated from 7.9 percent to 8.3 percent.

While stressing that the vibrant consumer market is conducive to economic recovery, Fu urged more efforts to increase people's incomes, give play to pro-consumption policies, and improve the quality of products and services to unleash the potential of consumption.