South China Morning Post:

In November, there was "Double 11" shopping festival and government subsidies for trade-in programs, but you just mentioned that the year-on-year growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods declined compared with the previous month. Could you elaborate further on the state of affairs with the recovery of consumption? Thank you. 

Fu Linghui:

Thank you for your question. Consumption growth has also drawn the attention of many people. As mentioned earlier, due to the early start to the "Double 11" online shopping period, sales of some goods were shifted to October, leading to a slowdown in market sales growth in November. However, if we look at the combined performance of October and November, the retail sales of consumer goods still grew significantly faster than in the third quarter. Market sales remained on a recovery path. At the same time, retail sales of services maintained rapid growth, also indicating an expansion of consumer demand. Specifically, it shows the following features : 

First, overall market sales have rebounded. In November, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 3.0% year-on-year, a decrease from the previous month, mainly due to the shift in some sales from the "Double 11" online shopping period. If October and November are combined, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by an average of 3.9%, 1.2 percentage points faster than the average growth rate in the third quarter, indicating a general rebound in market sales since the fourth quarter.

Second, the effects policies have driven continued to emerge. Although the growth rate of retail sales for some categories of goods slowed down in November, market sales of goods supported by trade-in programs, such as automobiles, home appliances and home decor, continued to maintain rapid growth. Specifically, in November, the retail sales of household appliances and audiovisual equipment, automobiles and furniture by enterprises above the designated size grew by 22.2%, 6.6% and 10.5%, respectively, significantly outpacing total retail sales growth and continuing to be a key driver for market sales growth.

Third, sales of products related to real estate have rebounded. With various policies aimed at stabilizing the real estate market having taken effect, the real estate market recently saw a noticeable improvement in sales, driving the demand for house decoration and renovation, which has led to a rebound in sales of related products. In November, among the retail sales of goods by enterprises above the designated size, the sales of construction and decoration material goods turned from a year-on-year decrease of 5.8% in the previous month to an increase of 2.9%.

Fourth, retail sales of services have registered fast growth. Supported by policies to promote service consumption, the demand for service consumption has continued to expand, contributing to rapid growth in retail sales of services. In November, catering consumption accelerated, with national catering revenue increased by 4% year-on-year, 0.8 percentage point faster than the previous month. Retail sales of services continued to grow faster than retail sales of goods. From January to November, retail sales of services increased by 6.4% year-on-year, 3.2 percentage points faster than retail sales of goods. Specifically, retail sales in the transportation and information transmission service sectors both maintained double-digit growth.

Overall, the recovery in market sales has continued since the fourth quarter, and the effects of policy-driven growth remain evident. Of course, we should also note that the internal drivers of growth with consumption still need further strengthening. Moving forward, efforts will focus on stabilizing employment, increasing incomes, enhancing residents' consumption capacities, improving consumption policies, boosting consumer confidence as well as enhancing the quality of supply to better unleash consumption potential and to promote stable and healthy economic development. Thank you.