SCIO briefing on China's economic performance in April 2025

CCTV:

The consumption data for April has attracted widespread attention. Could you tell us whether the overall recovery trend in the consumer market has continued? In terms of the consumption structure, which areas have seen notable growth? And which areas have room for improvement? Thank you.

Fu Linghui:

Thank you for your questions. Since the beginning of this year, the international environment has been complex and severe, external challenges have increased, and some blockages and sticking points remain in the domestic economic cycle. Vigorously boosting consumption is conducive to effectively responding to external challenges, smoothing the domestic economic cycle, promoting economic improvement, enhancing people's livelihoods and increasing development vitality. All regions and departments have implemented the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee, intensified and expanded the implementation of the "two new" policies, carried out special actions to boost consumption, driven market sales expansion, promoted service consumption growth, and strongly supported economic recovery and improvement. In terms of the situation in April, the policy effects continued to be revealed, the consumer market has grown steadily, and new consumption momentum has developed and grown. The main features are as follows:

First, market sales steadily rebounded. Overall, the total retail sales of social consumer goods mainly based on commodity sales and the retail sales of services represented by service consumption both showed a trend of recovery. From January to April, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 4.7% year on year, 0.1 percentage point faster than in the first quarter. Service retail sales grew by 5.1% year on year, also accelerating by 0.1 percentage point compared with the first quarter, marking two consecutive months of acceleration.

Second, sales of goods related to the trade-in of consumer products saw significant growth. As the trade-in program for consumer products was expanded and intensified, it played a notable role in boosting the sales of related goods. In April, retail sales by units above designated size of household appliances and audio-visual equipment, cultural and office supplies, furniture, and communication equipment increased by 38.8%, 33.5%, 26.9% and 19.9% year on year, respectively. These growth rates were significantly higher than the overall growth of commodity retail sales and strongly supported the expansion of market sales.

Third, retail sales of certain essential and upgraded goods grew relatively quickly. The rising demand for higher-quality consumption among residents also contributed to the increased sales of related goods. In April, retail sales by units above designated size of grain, oil and food, sports and entertainment goods, and gold, silver and jewelry rose by 14%, 23.3% and 25.3% year on year, respectively.

Fourth, the consumption of tourism and travel-related services grew rapidly. Driven by strong travel demand during holidays, residents' consumption of tourism, travel and communication services has grown rapidly. From January to April, the retail sales of transportation services, communication and information services, and travel, consulting and rental services all maintained double-digit growth.

Fifth, the new drivers of consumption demonstrated a sound growth momentum. With the rapid development of information technology and the continuous improvement of the logistics distribution system, new forms of efficient and convenient business such as online retail and instant retail have proven popular with consumers. From January to April, the online retail sales of physical goods increased by 5.8% year on year, continuing to surpass the growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods.

Overall, since the beginning of this year, policies have continued to take effect and market sales have continued to recover, but the internal driving force of consumption still needs to be further strengthened. In the next stage, we will implement special actions to boost consumption, continue to enhance residents' consumption capacity, increase high-quality supply, improve the consumption environment and better release consumption potential to promote healthy economic development and the continuous improvement of people's livelihoods. Thank you.