Ministry of Commerce: Sales of goods related to the October trade-in for new products maintained rapid growth.

On November 19, the person in charge of the Consumption Promotion Department of the Ministry of Commerce talked about the situation of China's consumption market in October 2025. In October, driven by the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, the consumption market maintained a stable growth trend, and the consumption potential continued to be released. According to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the total retail sales of consumer goods in that month reached 4.63 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.9% year-on-year. From January to October, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 41.2 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.3%, which was 0.8 percentage points higher than the same period last year. Firstly, the growth of commodity consumption was stable. In October, the retail sales of goods increased by 2.8%, with rapid growth in the sales of related products for the exchange of old for new. Among them, the retail sales of communication equipment, cultural office supplies, and furniture of enterprises above the designated size increased by 23.2%, 13.5%, and 9.6% respectively. The consumption of basic living goods grew rapidly, with the retail sales of grains, oils, food, clothing, shoes, and hats increasing by 9.1% and 6.3% respectively. There was a strong demand for upgraded consumer goods, with the retail sales of gold, silver, jewelry, sports and entertainment goods, and cosmetics increasing by 37.6%, 10.1%, and 9.6% respectively. Secondly, service consumption showed good growth momentum. From January to October, the retail sales of services increased by 5.3% year-on-year, with a growth rate 0.1 percentage points faster than the previous three quarters, and 0.9 percentage points faster than the retail sales of goods. Driven by the holiday travel demand, retail sales of tourism consulting leasing services, transportation services, and cultural and leisure services all maintained rapid growth of more than 10%. In October, catering revenue increased by 3.8%, with a growth rate 2.9 percentage points faster than September. Inbound tourism remained hot, with 751,000 foreign visitors during the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, an increase of 19.8%. Thirdly, new consumption grew rapidly. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce Big Data, in October, sales of smart health devices on key monitoring platforms increased by more than 20%, sales of smart wearable devices increased by about 4%, sales of some first-level energy-efficient appliances increased by more than 10%, and sales of organic food increased by more than 8%. According to data from the China Automobile Dealers Association, the retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles in October increased by 7.3%, with a penetration rate of 57.2%. From January to October, the online retail sales of physical goods increased by 6.3%. Fourthly, rural consumption outpaced urban consumption. County-level consumption continued to expand, and the vitality of the sinking market was strong. In October, the retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas increased by 4.1%, 1.4 percentage points faster than in urban areas; from January to October, the retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas increased by 4.6%, 0.4 percentage points faster than in urban areas.