Beijing: China’s retail sales of consumer goods increased by 4.5 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2025, as reported by data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The total retail sales during this period amounted to 36.5877 trillion yuan, which is approximately 5.16 trillion U.S. dollars.
According to Namibia Press Agency, the growth rate showed an improvement of 1.2 percentage points compared to the same period last year, as noted by Yu Jianxun, an official with the NBS. In September alone, retail sales saw a year-on-year rise of 3 percent. The increase was attributed to policy measures aimed at boosting service consumption, which resulted in the release of pent-up demand and stronger market growth.
Retail sales in the service sector saw a 5.2 percent year-on-year increase, outpacing the growth rate of goods retail sales by 0.6 percentage points. From January to September, urban retail sales increased by 4.4 percent, while rural areas experienced a slightly higher growth of 4.6 percent year on year. Online retail sales also performed well, climbing 9.8 percent year on year during the first nine months, as per the NBS data.
Yu highlighted that the implementation of consumption-boosting policies has supported the supply of goods and services, steadily unleashing demand and leading to an expanded and upgraded consumer market. Despite these gains, Yu emphasized that there remains potential to further increase household consumption and spending.
To promote high-quality development in the consumer market, Yu suggested focusing on measures that boost consumption, stabilize employment and incomes, create diverse consumption scenarios, and expand service consumption.