Ministry of Commerce: Sales of new energy vehicles increased by 27% year-on-year in August
The person in charge of the Consumer Promotion Department of the Ministry of Commerce discusses the situation of China's consumer market in August 2023
In August, commercial authorities at all levels conscientiously implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, organized and carried out a series of consumption promotion activities for the "Consumption Boosting Year", focused on boosting bulk consumption such as automobiles and home furnishings, promoting service consumption, developing new types of consumption, promoting sustained recovery and expansion of consumption, and playing the fundamental role of consumption in driving economic growth. The total retail sales of consumer goods in the current month reached 3.79 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.6%, with a growth rate 2.1 percentage points faster than the previous month; From January to August, the cumulative amount was 30.23 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.0%.
The sales of goods have steadily rebounded. The demand for upgraded products continues to be released, and green intelligent products are welcomed. In August, the retail sales of goods increased by 3.7% year-on-year, an increase of 2.7 percentage points compared to the previous month. From the perspective of product categories, nearly 70% of the retail sales of product categories have accelerated year-on-year growth compared to the previous month. Among them, cosmetics, communication equipment, gold and silver jewelry, and furniture from units above the quota increased by 9.7%, 8.5%, 7.2%, and 4.8% year-on-year, respectively. The sales of new energy vehicles were strong, with a year-on-year increase of 27% in August and a year-on-year increase of 39.2% from January to August, accounting for 29.5% of new car sales.
Service consumption is growing rapidly. The high popularity of summer travel among residents has driven a rapid growth in consumption of services such as catering, accommodation, tourism, and transportation. In August, the national catering revenue was 421.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.4%; During the summer vacation, the national railway and civil aviation passenger transport volume reached 830 million and 130 million respectively, both reaching historical highs during the same period; The box office revenue of summer films exceeded 20.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 1.26 times, which is the highest record for the same period in history. From January to August, the retail sales of services increased by 19.4% year-on-year.
The rapid development of new types of consumption. Online retail has maintained rapid growth, with a national online retail sales of 9.54 trillion yuan from January to August, a year-on-year increase of 12.1%. Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods reached 7.98 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.5%, accounting for 26.4% of the total retail sales of consumer goods in society. In August, the national express delivery business volume increased by about 15% year-on-year, and business revenue increased by about 9%.
Rural consumption is accelerating its recovery. In August, the retail sales of rural consumer goods reached 495.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.3%, with a growth rate 2.5 percentage points faster than the previous month and 1.9 percentage points faster than the retail sales of urban consumer goods. From January to August, the retail sales of rural consumer goods reached 3.99 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%, which was 0.7 percentage points faster than the retail sales of urban consumer goods.
