China's consumption engine gains momentum

HAIKOU — At the China International Consumer Products Expo in Hainan province last week, crowds thronged exhibit halls packed with global brands showcasing a dazzling array of goods.

From cosmetics and massage chairs to flying cars and humanoid robots, the arrival of retail commodities from all over the world offered a window into the vitality of China's ever-evolving consumer market.

This year's expo, which concluded on Friday, attracted over 1,760 enterprises and 4,200 brands from more than 70 countries and regions. A record-breaking 65 Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leaders participated in the six-day event.

Official data released last week revealed that retail sales of consumer goods rose 5.9 percent year-on-year last month, a marked acceleration from the 4 percent growth reported for the first two months of this year.

In the first quarter, China's retail sales expanded 4.6 percent year-on-year, which was 1.1 percentage points faster than in 2024, said the National Bureau of Statistics.

"Overall, consumer spending in the first quarter of this year continued to improve on the back of policy support," Sheng Laiyun, deputy head of the bureau, said at a news conference, citing pro-spending policies such as the country's consumer goods trade-in program.

"The combination of policies in both supply and demand has successfully stimulated consumer sentiment, with notable impacts on capital markets and retail growth momentum," according to a Deloitte report released at the expo. "This will lay the groundwork for sustained optimism going forward."

As pressures of a sluggish global economy mount, market observers say that China's consumption upgrade and economic shift toward services-driven growth — sustained by a population of over 1.4 billion — carry immense potential.