China's Consumption Scale Continues To Expand, With An Average Annual Growth Of 11.6% Since 1952.

China's National Bureau of statistics released the latest report on the achievements of the 70th anniversary economic and social development of new China 2, pointing out that since the founding of new China, the scale of consumer goods market has continued to expand. The total retail sales of consumer goods in China increased from 27 billion 700 million yuan (RMB) in 1952 to 380987 billion yuan in 2018, with an average annual growth rate of 11.6%.


In the early days of the founding of new China, there was a serious shortage of means of living. Agricultural and sideline products were dominated by state monopoly for purchase and sale, and consumer products were allocated and allocated. Since 1978, reform and opening up has opened up unprecedented space for the development of the domestic market, with strong consumer demand, active sales and consumption, and continuous expansion of consumption.


In 2018, China's retail sales of grain, oil, food, beverage, tobacco, liquor and clothing were above 19689 billion yuan and 13707 billion yuan respectively, which were 133 times and 270 times of the retail sales of food and clothing in 1952 respectively. By the end of 2018, the average number of TV sets, washing machines and refrigerators in China was 121.3, 97.7 and 100.9 respectively, compared with 0.6, 6.3 and 0.2 in 1981.


With the sustained and rapid growth of the consumer market, it has gradually become the first driving force for China's economic growth. In 2018, the contribution rate of final consumption expenditure to China's GDP growth reached 76.2%, significantly higher than that in 1952 and 1978. Consumption has become a "stabilizer" and "ballast stone" to keep the economy running smoothly.


It is worth mentioning that during the early days of the founding of new China, the consumption of household goods was mainly based on the basic living needs such as food and clothing. Driven by the steady increase of residents' income level and the change of consumption concept, residents' consumption has shifted from the satisfaction of injection weight to the pursuit of quality improvement, and the consumption structure has been continuously improved. In 2018, the Engel coefficient of Chinese residents was 28.4%, down 35.5 percentage points from 1978.


With the steady improvement of the living standard of China's residents and the considerable progress of the market supply side, the consumption hot spots are also transformed from the physical consumption that meets the material needs of life to the consumption of services that embody the needs of people's beautiful life. According to statistics, the proportion of the third industry added value to China's GDP increased from 20% in 1980 to 52.2% in 2018.


In addition, the acceleration of innovation in circulation means that China's market supply presents diversified development. If Internet technology advances and network coverage expands, the continuous expansion of online retailing will become an important factor in consumption growth.


The report shows that the contribution rate of online retail sales of physical commodities to China's total retail sales of consumer goods increased from 27.5% in 2014 to 45.2% in 2018, and the increase in total retail sales of social consumer goods also increased from 3.3 percentage points in 2014 to 4.1 percentage points in 2018.