The Zhitong Finance App learned that on October 23, the head of the Consumer Promotion Department of the Ministry of Commerce discussed China's consumer market situation in the first three quarters of 2026. In the first three quarters, the role of the “main engine” of consumption continued to be consolidated, and the advantages of the hyperscale market became more and more prominent. Consumption of “goods+services” has placed equal emphasis on development and maintained a good growth trend. Total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 1.1% in the first three quarters, achieving steady growth in the same period last year. Demand for green, smart, and healthy consumption is strong, and the characteristics of a new and positive trend are obvious.
The original text is as follows:
The head of the Department of Consumer Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce talks about China's consumer market situation in the first three quarters of 2026
In the first three quarters, the Ministry of Commerce earnestly implemented the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, thoroughly implemented special actions to boost consumption, and introduced a series of consumer promotion policies and measures to promote the steady expansion of the consumer market and the continuous optimization of the consumer consumption structure, which played an important role in economic growth.
1. The role of the “main engine” of consumption continues to be consolidated, and the advantages of the hyperscale market are becoming more and more prominent. In the first three quarters, final consumption expenditure contributed 46.7% to economic growth, up from 0.7 percentage points in the first half of the year, driving GDP growth by 2.1 percentage points, and continuing to be the leading driving force for economic growth.
2. “Product+service” consumption has placed equal emphasis on development and maintained a good growth trend. In the first three quarters, total retail sales of consumer goods and services increased 2.6% year-on-year (same), 0.1 percentage points faster than in January-August. Among them, retail sales of services increased by 5.0%, which is 4 percentage points higher than retail sales of goods. The country's per capita consumption expenditure was 22,000 yuan, a nominal increase of 3.6% over the same period last year. Excluding price factors, the actual increase was 2.7%.
3. Total retail sales of social consumer goods have rebounded, and the fundamentals of commodity consumption are good. Total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 1.1% in September, 0.7 percentage points faster than in August, and retail sales of consumer goods other than automobiles increased by 3.9%. Total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 1.1% in the first three quarters, achieving steady growth in the same period last year. Among the 16 categories of products in units above the limit, 9 categories of products continued to grow, with 6 categories of products growing at a rate of more than 5%.
4. Demand for green, smart, and healthy consumption is strong, and the characteristics of moving forward are obvious. Some upgraded products grew rapidly. Retail sales of communication equipment and cosmetics per unit above the limit increased by 18.1% and 6.1%, respectively. According to big business data from the Ministry of Commerce, sales of smart glasses on key platforms increased 1.1 times in the first three quarters, sales of exoskeleton boosters increased by 46.4%, sales of embedded intelligent robots increased 22.6%, and sales of organic food increased 6.4%. According to data from the Automobile Dealers Association, the retail penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicles reached 67.0% in September.
This article was selected from the “Ministry of Commerce” official website, Zhitong Finance Editor: Jiang Yuanhua.