In April, the year-on-year growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods in China slowed down to 5.1%, which was lower than expected.
On May 19th, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of the Communist Party of China revealed that the total retail sales of consumer goods in April amounted to 3.7174 trillion yuan (RMB), showing a 5.1% increase compared to the same period last year. This growth rate was lower than the 5.9% in March and below the 5.8% expected by economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.
The growth of retail sales of household appliances, cultural and office supplies, furniture, and communication equipment products increased by 5.6%, but the growth rate slowed down by 0.4 percentage points compared to March. Consumer spending on automobiles continued to decline.
When categorized, sectors experiencing a slowdown in sales growth included tobacco and alcohol (4.0% in April, down from 8.5% in March), beverages (2.9%, down from 4.4% in March), clothing and footwear (2.2%, down from 3.6% in March), and automobiles (0.7%, down from 5.5% in March). Meanwhile, the sales decline of petroleum products significantly widened to -5.7% from -1.9% in March.
On the other hand, sectors with expanding sales growth included grain and oil food (14.0%, up from 13.8% in March), jewelry (25.3%, up from 10.6% in March), and pharmaceuticals (2.6%, up from 1.4% in March).
From January to April, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 16.1845 trillion yuan, showing a 4.7% increase.
This data serves as a key indicator of consumption performance. The slowdown in growth reflects weak domestic consumption, with households being cautious due to economic uncertainties, slow income growth, and concerns about the impact of increased tariffs on the United States.
Furthermore, official data indicated that in April, the year-on-year growth rate of industrial value added by enterprises above a designated size increased by 6.1%, declining by 1.6 percentage points compared to the 7.7% growth in March. From January to April, industrial value added by enterprises above the designated size increased by 6.4%.