China - Retail Sales





China: Retail Sales

Mnemonic WRT.ICHN
Unit 100 Mil. CNY, NSA
Adjustments Not Seasonally Adjusted
Monthly 2.46 %
Data Dec 2023 43,550
Nov 2023 42,505

Series Information

Source National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China
Release Retail Sales
Frequency Monthly
Start Date 1/31/1984
End Date 12/31/2023

China: Consumer

Reference Last Previous Units Frequency
Retail Sales Dec 2023 43,550 42,505 100 Mil. CNY, NSA Monthly
Personal Income 2022 190,820 180,817 100 Mil. CNY Annual

Release Information

For China, retail sales to consumers, by 16 consumption categories; level and percent growth; monthly from 1999, annual from 1952. Subsets: By type of goods, by location (urban, rural, etc.), by industry (kind of store), online sales.

  • Measurements:
    • 100 million Chinese yuan (100 Mil. CNY)
    • Year-over-year percent change (% Y/Y)
  • Cumulations:
    • None
    • Year to date (YTD)
  • Adjustment: Not seasonally adjusted (NSA)
  • Native frequencies:
    • Monthly
    • Quarterly
    • Annual
  • Start date: Varies
  • Geo coverage: 31 provinces (for some subsets)

Retail Sales of Consumer Goods refer to the sum of retail sales of consumer goods sold by all sectors of the national economy to urban and rural residents and social groups. This indicator is used to show the supply of consumers goods through various channels to households and institutions, and is very important for the study on changes at the domestic retail market, and on economic cycles.

All enterprises (units) above designated size are surveyed, while the data of enterprises (units) below designated size are collected by sampling survey.

Definitions

Total retail sales of consumer goods
The sales of physical commodities, or the income of catering services. These are sold or provided by enterprises (units) to individuals and social organizations, for non-production and non-operation purposes. Includes online retail sales of physical goods, but excludes online retail sales of non-physical goods.
Online retail sales
Any goods and services obtained through a public online trading platform, including self-built and third-party sites.
Goods and services
Includes physical goods and non-physical goods.
Non-physical goods
Includes services and virtual products.

Moody's Analytics supplements

For some indicators we produce a counterpart that is single-month (i.e., non-cumulated) and seasonally adjusted.

Timeliness

Because of Lunar New Year celebrations, 11 periods are reported, and our calendar skips from December to February. The initial report around the middle of the month is the headline value, followed about a week later by detail.

Retail sales data has Month-on-Month Figure Revision, so data is revised when there are revisions.

Household consumption exhibits a Lunar New Year effect. Because this celebration may fall in either January or February, NBS reports only one period. Consult the cumulative (YTD) analytic variant, WRLRACGYTDUM.ICHN.

Further reading

At the source:

  • 30 Dec 2022, Phillip Thorne - Timeliness