According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, sales of consumer goods totaled 36.6 trillion yuan ($5.73 trillion) in 2017, up 10.2 percent year-on-year, demonstrating an overwhelming momentum, Guangming Daily reported on Jan 25.

China’s economic structuring highlights consumption

Final consumption has been acting as China’s primary economic driver for four consecutive years, with a 58.8 percent contribution rate to the economic growth in this country.

According to a report in the Washington Post on Jan 11, China’ retail sales turnover is set to overtake the US for the first time, with $5.8 trillion anticipated.

Against the backdrop of a steady economic growth, China has been witnessing a tremendous increase in emerging business modes and improvements in internet-aided traditional retail industry.

According to analysts at the McKinsey Company, a US-headquartered global management consulting firm, China’s consumption trends are a catalyst for business innovation as well as an indicator for global consumption trends.

Chinese people benefit from consumption

Over the past few years, China’s thriving tourism expenditure and decreasing Engel’s Coefficient, the proportion of food expense to the consumption expense, saw an inverse correlation, revealing an upgrading structure and diversified expenditure patterns in China’s consumption.

As noted in the Blue Papers recently issued by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), consumption and the tertiary industry are playing increasingly bigger parts in economic growth, thanks to the considerable progress made in supply-side structural reform.

Additionally, industries that are significant to the livelihood of the masses, namely, tourism, culture, sports, fitness, and endowment insurance, are continuously on the rise.

High-quality economic development attributed to consumption

High-quality economic development features high-end and diverse consumers’ demands, said Li Daokui, a professor at Tsinghua University.

Improvements in the standards and quality of consumer goods will greatly facilitate the upgrading of China’s manufacturing sector, and boost the quality of economic development accordingly, said Shi Lei, head of the Public Economic Research Center at Fudan University