China's consumer spending posts steady growth in first 7 months

BEIJING, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer spending in the first seven months of this year expanded at a solid pace, with retail sales of consumer goods growing 4.8 percent year on year, official data showed Friday.

In July alone, retail sales of consumer goods rose 3.7 percent from a year earlier to nearly 3.88 trillion yuan (about 543.6 billion U.S. dollars), according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The consumer goods trade-in program continued to drive growth. Among major retailers, sales of household appliances and audio-visual equipment surged 28.7 percent year on year, while furniture rose 20.6 percent, the data showed.

Online retail sales remained a bright spot, climbing 9.2 percent year on year in the first seven months. Sales of physical goods online increased 6.3 percent, making up nearly a quarter of total retail sales.

Service consumption also showed stable growth, with retail sales in the sector rising 5.2 percent year on year in the Jan.-July period. Retail sales of travel consulting and rental services, transportation services, and cultural, sports and leisure services all posted double-digit growth, NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui told a press conference.

Policy measures have sustained the expansion of consumption and fostered new growth drivers, Fu said, while warning that uncertainties abroad and constraints on domestic consumption capacity still pose challenges.

Looking ahead, efforts will be made to further implement targeted initiatives to boost consumption, cultivate new growth drivers in services, improve the consumption environment, and promote the stable development of the consumer market, Fu noted.