On June 16, the National Bureau of Statistics released data on retail sales of consumer goods in May 2021.

Data show that in May, the national furniture retail sales were 13.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.6%; from January to May, the national furniture retail sales were 61.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35.1%.

In terms of construction and decoration, the national retail sales of construction and decoration materials in May was 16.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.3%; from January to May, the national retail sales of construction and decoration materials was 70.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 37.1%.

On the whole, in May, the total retail sales of consumer goods was 3,594.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.4%; an increase of 9.3% over May 2019, and the two-year average growth rate was 4.5%. From January to May, the total retail sales of consumer goods was 1,7431.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.7%, and the two-year average growth rate was 4.3%.

Shen Junli, a statistician from the Department of Trade and Foreign Economic Affairs of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that in May, driven by factors such as holiday consumption and consumption promotion monthly activities, market sales maintained a good recovery trend, showing a steady growth in commodity retail, a significant recovery in service consumption, and online consumption and characteristics of rapid growth and continued improvement in offline consumption.

In terms of online channels, from January to May, the national online retail sales of physical goods increased by 19.9% year-on-year. The two-year average growth rate was 15.6%, which was the same as the two-year average growth rate from January to April.

In the offline market, from January to May, the two-year average growth rate of retail sales of physical stores such as supermarkets and specialty stores above designated size was basically the same as that from January to April. The two-year average growth rate of the retail sales of commodities in convenience stores, specialty stores and furniture and building materials stores was 0.3, 0.6 and 1.0 percentage points faster than that from January to April, respectively.

Overall, the consumer market maintained a good recovery trend in May. However, we must also note that the import pressure of overseas epidemics is still relatively high, sporadic epidemics still occur in some areas, and the recovery of the consumer market is still facing uncertainties. In the next stage, as the epidemic prevention and control become more precise and effective, a series of measures to cultivate a complete domestic demand system and comprehensive consumption promotion policies and measures continue to bear fruit, the consumer market is expected to continue to recover steadily.