CHINA’S total retail sales of goods and services, a major indicator of the country’s consumption strength, increased by 2.8 per cent year on year in the first five months of 2026, official data showed on Tuesday.
This is the first time that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has released this data as part of its monthly data package.
“As China’s development stage evolves and consumption scenarios become increasingly diverse, demand for services is being unleashed at a faster pace and has become an important driver of consumption growth, making retail sales of services an important indicator for observing consumption trends,” NBS Spokesperson Fu Linghui told the press.
Retail sales of services increased by 5.4 per cent in the January-May period from a year earlier, while that of goods rose 1.2 per cent, the NBS data revealed.
In the first five months, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 20.6 trillion yuan (about US$3.02 trillion), up by 1.4 per cent year on year, the data showed. In May alone, total retail sales of consumer goods fell 0.6 per cent from a year earlier. — Xinhua
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