Ministry of Commerce: Total retail sales of consumer goods in the whole society increased by 2.4% year-on-year in the first quarter, and service consumption maintained a relatively fast growth.

Head of the Ministry of Commerce's Consumer Promotion Department talks about the situation of China's consumer market in the first quarter of 2026. In the first quarter, the total retail sales of consumer goods in the whole society reached 12.8 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.4% year-on-year, with the growth rate accelerating by 0.7 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year. The trade-in of old for new drove stable growth in commodity consumption, with sales of consumer goods through trade-ins amounting to over 430 billion yuan, benefiting more than 60 million people. Service consumption maintained rapid growth, with smart, green, and healthy consumption showing good momentum, and the potential of the rural consumption market being unleashed.