Qiankeming, the deputy minister of commerce claimed in the press that the total retail sales of social consumer goods maintained steady and relatively fast growth in 2018. The total sales reached RMB 38.1 trillion, up 9%.
Data shows that consumption contributed more to China's economic growth in 2018. Meanwhile, the growth of total retail sales fell down to 9%, the first non-double-digit growth since 2004.
Qian said that main statistical indicators of total retail sales was connected to the consumption of goods. However, the consumption of service accounted for 49.5% of the total and kept growing rapidly in the past years. The consumption was predicted to be the key driving force to growth of economy. And the consumption of service was the major growth point because the consumption of goods would gradually go back again. "This is the basic economic law and trend of optimization of consumption structure".
China ranked second in total retail sales in 2018. The Engel's Coefficient reduced by 0.9% and percentage of average service consumption increased by 1.6%. The changes of indicators showed that circulation and consumption developed under healthy direction.
It is said that along with economy growth, the prominent problems and conflicts are becoming increasingly underline. The consumer market is under great pressure and the growth of consumption may slow down. However, China has a huge market with 1.4 billion people, among which 400 million are middle-income group requiring upgrading. The total retail sales is supposed to grow steadily and rapidly in 2019.
