Consumption contributed 64.6 percent to China’s total GDP in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 4.9 percent, signifying an ongoing “historical change” in the country's economic structure, said Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng in a news briefing on Tuesday.
Consumption has roared ahead of investment and export to become China’s leading economic driver since 2014, Gao said.
Multi-functional and intelligent products are becoming increasingly popular among Chinese consumers, Gao said. While private car sales have increased by 13.7 percent in general, sales of clean-energy cars have increased by 53 percent and that of electric cars by 65 percent.
A growing number of consumers are shopping online. In 2016 China’s online retail volume increased by 25.6 percent, accounting for 12.6 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods.
Meanwhile, the buying of services, such as house keeping and elderly care, makes up ever-larger share in total consumption. In Beijing, for example, the consumption of services has grown by 3.5-percentage points higher than that of commodities, making up 45 percent of total consumption.
Gao said consumption in China has also become greener. Lush packages are increasingly replaced by simpler ones, Gao said, while consumers are more and more used to carrying their own shopping bags.
Consumption is expected to still grow fast this year, Gao said, but catering to growing market needs will require more diversity and higher quality in the services and products provided.
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