China News Agency, Beijing, August 16th (Reporter Wang Enbo) Under the "snip attack" of the epidemic and flood, the growth rate of China's consumption in July fell to a certain extent.

Fu Linghui, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics of China, said in Beijing on the 16th that although market sales have slowed down due to short-term factors, the recovery of consumption is expected to continue.

  Data released on the same day showed that in July, the total retail sales of consumer goods in China was 3,492.5 billion yuan, an increase of 8.5% year-on-year, and a decrease of 3.6 percentage points from June, which was higher than the growth rate of the same period in 2019 and 2020; the two-year average growth rate was 3.6%; A month-on-month decrease of 0.13%.

Data map: Consumers buy goods in supermarkets.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Chuhong

  Fu Linghui pointed out that China's overall consumption has maintained a steady recovery this year.

In July, due to the impact of heavy rainfall in some areas and the spread of epidemics in some places, the year-on-year growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods and the two-year average growth rate both fell from the previous month.

However, from a cumulative perspective, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by an average of 4.3% in two years, basically the same as last month.

  He said that overall, most commodity categories in China's consumer market have maintained growth.

From January to July, among the retail sales of commodities above designated size, the retail sales of 18 categories of commodities achieved an average growth in two years, and the average growth rate of 9 categories of commodities exceeded 10% in two years.

Basic life and upgrade products also grew rapidly.

From January to July, the basic daily necessities of grain, oil, food, and daily necessities increased by 11.3% and 13.2% respectively in two years.

Upgraded gold, silver, jewellery and sports and entertainment products have an average growth rate of 10.6% and 18.4% respectively in two years.

In addition, the growth of online retail is stable.

From January to July, the online retail sales of physical goods increased by an average of 16.7% in two years, 0.2% faster than the first half of the year.

  Speaking of future consumption trends, Fu Linghui believes that with the continuous expansion of vaccination and the effective implementation of precise prevention and control, the Chinese consumer market is expected to maintain overall stability.

It should also be noted that the expansion of employment and the increase in residents' income are also conducive to the improvement of consumption capacity, and consumption can maintain a stable recovery trend on the whole.

(Finish)