Customers buy vegetables at a supermarket in Wuchang district of Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, June 10, 2026. [Photo/Xinhua]
BEIJING -- China's total retail sales of goods and services, a major indicator of the country's consumption strength, increased by 2.8 percent year-on-year in the first five months of 2026, official data showed on Tuesday.
This is the first time that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has released this data as part of its monthly data package.
"As China's development stage evolves and consumption scenarios become increasingly diverse, demand for services is being unleashed at a faster pace and has become an important driver of consumption growth, making retail sales of services an important indicator for observing consumption trends," NBS Spokesperson Fu Linghui told the press.
Retail sales of services increased by 5.4 percent in the January-May period from a year earlier, while that of goods rose 1.2 percent, the NBS data revealed.
