China National Business Information Center: The contribution rate of consumption to economic growth in the first quarter has increased, and the total retail sales of consumer goods have accelerated growth.

On April 21st, the China National Commerce Information Center released an analysis of the operation of the consumer market in the first quarter of 2025. The data shows that consumer contributions to economic growth have increased. In the first quarter of 2025, China's economy continued to recover and improve, with GDP growing by 5.4% year-on-year, higher than the 5% growth rate for the whole of last year, and also higher than the 5.3% growth rate in the first quarter of last year, achieving a good start to economic development. Consumer demand is gradually picking up, the consumer market continues to expand, and the final consumer expenditure's contribution to economic growth reached 51.7%, higher than the 7.2 percentage points for the whole year last year, driving GDP growth by 2.8 percentage points, providing strong support for China's economy to maintain stable growth in a complex and volatile international environment, and to achieve the annual economic growth target. Total retail sales of consumer goods accelerate In the first quarter, all regions and departments conscientiously implemented the decisions of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, solidly promoted policies to boost consumption such as trade-ins for old items, and promoted the upgrading of consumption quality. The sales growth rate in the market continued to accelerate, and the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 12.4671 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.6%, accelerating by 1.1 percentage points compared to the whole of last year. The market growth rate rose month by month, with total retail sales of consumer goods increasing by 5.9% in March, accelerating by 1.9 percentage points compared to January-February, higher than the levels of each month since 2024. Urban and rural consumer goods markets both accelerate In the first quarter, urban retail sales of consumer goods reached 10.8057 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.5%, accelerating by 1.1 percentage points compared to the whole of last year. In March, urban retail sales of consumer goods increased by 6%, accelerating by 2.2 percentage points compared to January-February. In the first quarter, rural retail sales of consumer goods reached 1.6614 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.9%, accelerating by 0.6 percentage points compared to the whole of last year. In March, rural retail sales of consumer goods increased by 5.3%, faster than 0.7 percentage points in January-February. Retail sales of goods above quota increased significantly In the first quarter, retail sales of goods reached 11.0644 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.6%, accelerating by 1.4 percentage points compared to the whole of last year. Among them, retail sales of goods above quota reached 4.5247 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%, accelerating by 3.1 percentage points compared to the whole of last year, with the growth rate improvement greater than that of retail sales by 1.7 percentage points. In March, retail sales of goods reached 3.6705 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.9%, accelerating by 2 percentage points compared to January-February. Among them, retail sales of goods above quota reached 1.5899 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.6%, accelerating by 4.2 percentage points compared to January-February, with the growth rate improvement greater than that of retail sales by 2.2 percentage points. Physical goods online retail maintain rapid growth In the first quarter, online retail sales of physical goods reached 2.9948 trillion yuan, a 5.7% increase, slowing by 0.8 percentage points compared to the whole of last year, but faster than the growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods by 1.1 percentage points, accounting for 24% of the total retail sales of consumer goods. In terms of online retail sales of physical goods, the categories of food and daily necessities grew by 14.0% and 5.6% respectively, while clothing decreased by 0.1%. In March, online retail sales of physical goods increased by 6.9% year-on-year, accelerating by 1.9 percentage points compared to January-February. Offline retail sales growth accelerates According to estimates, offline retail sales increased by 4.2% year-on-year in the first quarter, accelerating by 2.4 percentage points compared to the whole of last year, with offline retail sales increasing by 5.5% in March year-on-year, accelerating by 2 percentage points compared to January-February. According to data released by the Bureau of Statistics, in terms of retail formats, in the first quarter, the retail sales of convenience stores, supermarkets, department stores, specialty stores, and brand stores among retail units above quota increased by 9.9%, 4.6%, 1.2%, 6.7%, and 1.4% respectively, with growth rates improving by 5.2, 1.9, 3.6, 2, and 1.8 percentage points compared to the whole of the previous year. According to the statistics of the China National Commerce Information Center, in the first quarter, the total retail sales of 100 key large-scale retail enterprises nationwide (mainly in the department store format) decreased by 3.7% year-on-year, narrowing by 0.9 percentage points compared to the whole of the previous year. Among them, the year-on-year decrease in March was 0.8%, narrowing by 4.2 percentage points compared to January-February. Sales of goods related to trade-ins show rapid growth In the first quarter, the trade-in policy for consumer goods continued to show results, with retail sales of communication equipment, cultural and office supplies, consumer electronics and audio-visual equipment, and furniture in units above quota increasing by 26.9%, 21.7%, 19.3%, and 18.1% respectively. In addition, basic necessities and some upgraded products also showed good growth momentum, with retail sales of cereals, oils, food products, daily necessities, and sports and entertainment products in units above quota increasing by 12.2%, 6.8%, and 25.4%. In March, retail sales in units above quota of consumer electronics and audio-visual equipment, furniture, communication equipment, and cultural and office supplies achieved high-speed growth of 35.1%, 29.5%, 28.6%, and 21.5% respectively year-on-year, while jewelry, precious metals, and automobiles increased by 10.6% and 5.5% year-on-year, improving significantly compared to January-February. Service retail sales continue to grow rapidly In the first quarter, under the strong promotion of various consumption-boosting policies, the continuous optimization and enrichment of service supply, and the increase in resident travel and leisure activities during holidays, the service consumer market achieved sustained and rapid growth, with hot spots in cultural tourism, transportation, and catering services. Looking at the structure of household consumption expenditure, in the first quarter, per capita service consumption expenditure for residents increased by 5.4% year-on-year, accounting for 43.4% of the total per capita consumption expenditure, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the same period last year. Among them, per capita expenditures on transportation and communication increased by 10.4%, and expenditures on education, culture, and entertainment increased by 13.9%, significantly faster than the average growth of per capita consumption expenditure by 5.2 and 8.7 percentage points. In terms of the development of the service consumption market, in the first quarter, service retail sales increased by 5.0% year-on-year, accelerating by 0.1 percentage points compared to January-February.The growth rate of retail sales of goods in the same period was 0.4 percentage points higher. Among them, the revenue from the management of tourist attractions and travel agency services increased by 40.5% and 15.5% respectively; the revenue from film screening and literary and artistic performances increased by 39.6% and 15.2% respectively, reflecting a continuous increase in cultural and tourism consumption demand.In the first quarter, the revenue of the catering industry was 1.4027 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.7%, with the growth rate accelerating by 0.4 percentage points compared to January and February. Among them, the revenue of catering establishments above the designated size was 396.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.7%, with the growth rate accelerating by 1.1 percentage points compared to January and February. In terms of the monthly growth in March, the catering revenue increased by 5.6% year-on-year, and the revenue of catering establishments above the designated size increased by 6.8% year-on-year, with both growth rates significantly faster than in January and February. Resident consumer prices remain basically stable In the first quarter, the national Consumer Price Index (CPI) decreased by 0.1% year-on-year. In terms of categories, food, tobacco and alcohol prices decreased by 0.7%, clothing prices increased by 1.2%, housing prices increased by 0.1%, household goods and services prices decreased by 0.4%, transportation and communication prices decreased by 1.9%, education, culture and entertainment prices increased by 0.7%, medical care prices increased by 0.3%, and other goods and services prices increased by 6.0%. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, increased by 0.3%. In March, the national Consumer Price Index decreased by 0.1% year-on-year, the same decrease as in January and February.