Shandian News:

How was the recovery of the consumer market in October? What were the growth patterns of spending on physical goods and services? How significant was the contribution of holiday spending to the overall data? Thank you.

Fu Linghui:

Thank you for your questions. Consumer spending is related to both economic development and people's well-being. Since the beginning of this year, various regions and departments have intensified efforts to boost consumer spending, expanded consumer goods trade-in programs, vigorously promoted spending in the digital and service sectors, and encouraged spending on culture and sports, all of which have helped unleash the potential of consumer spending. From January to October, total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 4.3% year on year, and service retail sales grew by 5.3%. In October, driven by the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays and policies to boost consumer spending, market sales remained generally stable, the spending structure continued to be optimized, and new forms of spending continued to expand. In terms of spending on goods, consumer spending upgrades and the consumer goods trade-in programs contributed to steady sales growth and structural optimization and upgrading.

First, retail sales of certain daily necessities grew quickly. As consumers' quality demands rise, they are paying greater attention to factors such as product quality, grade, and brand, which has driven rapid sales growth for certain essential goods. In October, retail sales of grain, oil and food as well as daily necessities increased by 9.1% and 7.4% year on year, respectively, faster than the growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods.

Second, the retail sales of some upgraded goods grew rapidly. As the residential consumption pattern upgrades, the demand for cultural, sports and entertainment products has expanded, boosting the sales growth of related goods. In October, retail sales of sports and entertainment goods and cosmetics by units above designated size rose by 10.1% and 9.6% year on year, respectively.

Third, the sales of some trade-in products continued to grow. Consumer goods trade-in policy continued to deliver results, significantly driving sales of related goods. In October, the retail sales of communication equipment and cultural and office supplies by units above the designated size increased by 23.2% and 13.5% year on year, respectively, both significantly higher than the growth rate of retail sales of all goods.

In terms of spending on services, as residential consumption quickly transforms, growing spending on services increasingly becomes an important growth point. With the National Day and this year's Mid-Autumn Festival both falling in the month, spending on services continued to grow rapidly in October. From January to October, the growth rate of retail sales of services rose by 0.1 percentage point compared to the first nine months, and was 0.9 percentage point higher than the growth rate of retail sales of goods in the same 10-month period. In terms of the pattern of spending on services, firstly, cultural and tourism services maintained good momentum for growth, with various regions actively developing new business models. Sports events and the performance market were bustling, and spending on cultural tourism and recreation grew rapidly. From January to October, the retail sales of tourism consultation and rental services, transportation services, and cultural, sports and leisure services all maintained a rapid growth rate of over 10%. Secondly, information services grew rapidly. The demand for services such as digital audio-visual services and online entertainment continued to expand, and the sales of related industries showed a favorable growth trend. From January to October, the retail sales of communication and information services maintained double-digit growth. In addition, with more residents dining out during the holidays, the growth of catering revenue accelerated significantly in October.

From the perspective of new forms of consumption, digital consumption and green consumption continued to grow, strongly promoting the growth of consumption. From January to October, the online retail sales increased by 9.6% year on year, and the retail sales of physical goods increased by 6.3%, higher than the growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods. And the transaction volume of instant retail and live-streaming e-commerce both maintained double-digit growth. From January to October, the retail sales of new energy vehicles continued to maintain rapid growth. In addition, China is in a critical stage of consumption pattern upgrading, with huge opportunities to explore in cultural tourism, medical health, and other areas. The rapid development of the silver economy and the debut economy also injects new momentum into the expansion of consumption.

Overall, the economy remained stable, pro-consumption policies continued to take effect, and market sales remained stable. However, it should also be noted that household consumption capacity and confidence still need to be improved, and the internal driving forces of boosting consumption still need to be strengthened. In the next stage, we need to follow the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, implement various measures of the special action to boost consumption, actively stabilize employment, promote income growth, vigorously increase high-quality supplies of products and services, continuously optimize the consumption environment, effectively unleash consumption potential, and better promote development and improve people's livelihoods. Thank you.