BEIJING, March 15 (Xinhua) – Retail sales of consumer goods in China, the main indicator of consumption growth, increased 33.8% year-on-year in the first two months of 2021 to exceed 6,970 billion yuan (about $ 1.070 billion), the State Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.
The January-February figure represents a growth of 6.4% compared to the level of the same period of 2019, with an average annual growth of 3.2% over the last two years.
Excluding auto consumption, retail sales grew 30.4% year-on-year during the January-February period to reach 6.3 trillion yuan.
Consumption in urban areas reached about 6.060 billion yuan, an increase of 34.9% year on year. In rural areas, the figure increased 26.7 percent year-on-year to 918.5 billion yuan.
The restaurant industry saw a 68.9% increase in revenue, with the hardest-hit sector continuing to recover from the impact of COVID-19.
In addition, a closer look at the data revealed that the recovery in demand has led to an increase in consumption. Sales of telecommunications equipment and entertainment and sports products by large companies increased by 53.1% and 45.6% respectively.
Online consumption remained a strong point, with online retail sales increasing 32.5 percent year-on-year to about 1.760 billion yuan in the January-February period.
Online sales of physical products grew 30.6% year-on-year, accounting for 20.7% of total retail sales in the same period.
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