Ministry of Commerce: In the First Three Quarters, Consumption's Role as the "Main Engine" Continued to Consolidate, with "Goods + Services" Consumption Developing in Parallel

On October 23, the head of the Department of Consumption Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce discussed the situation of China's consumer market in the first three quarters of 2026. In the first three quarters, consumption's role as the "main engine" continued to consolidate, and the advantages of the super-large-scale market became increasingly prominent. "Goods + services" consumption developed in parallel, maintaining good growth momentum. In the first three quarters, total retail sales of consumer goods grew by 1.1%, achieving steady growth despite the high base in the same period last year. Demand for green, smart, and health consumption was strong, with clear characteristics of moving toward new and better development. The original text is as follows: Head of the Department of Consumption Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce Discusses China's Consumer Market in the First Three Quarters of 2026 In the first three quarters, the Ministry of Commerce earnestly implemented the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, deeply carried out special actions to boost consumption, introduced a series of policies and measures to promote consumption, and promoted the steady expansion of the consumer market scale and the continuous optimization of residents' consumption structure, playing an important role in economic growth. 1. Consumption's role as the "main engine" continued to consolidate, and the advantages of the super-large-scale market became increasingly prominent. In the first three quarters, final consumption expenditure contributed 46.7% to economic growth, 0.7 percentage points higher than in the first half of the year, driving GDP growth by 2.1 percentage points and continuing to remain the primary driving force of economic growth. 2. "Goods + services" consumption developed in parallel, maintaining good growth momentum. In the first three quarters, total retail sales of consumer goods and services grew by 2.6% year on year (the same below), 0.1 percentage points faster than January-August. Among this, retail sales of services grew by 5.0%, 4 percentage points faster than retail sales of goods. Nationwide, per capita consumer spending was 22,000 yuan, a nominal increase of 3.6% over the same period last year, or a real increase of 2.7% after deducting price factors. 3. Total retail sales of consumer goods rebounded somewhat, and the fundamentals of goods consumption were sound. In September, total retail sales of consumer goods grew by 1.1%, 0.7 percentage points faster than in August, and retail sales of consumer goods excluding automobiles grew by 3.9%. In the first three quarters, total retail sales of consumer goods grew by 1.1%, achieving steady growth despite the high base in the same period last year. Among the 16 major categories of goods at units above designated size, 9 categories maintained growth, of which 6 categories grew by more than 5%. 4. Demand for green, smart, and health consumption was strong, with clear characteristics of moving toward new and better development. Some upgraded goods grew relatively fast, with retail sales of communication equipment and cosmetics at units above designated size increasing by 18.1% and 6.1%, respectively. Ministry of Commerce big data showed that in the first three quarters, sales of smart glasses on key platforms increased by 1.1 times, sales of exoskeleton assistive devices increased by 46.4%, sales of embodied intelligent Siasun Robot&Automation increased by 22.6%, and sales of organic food increased by 6.4%. According to data from the China Automobile Dealers Association, the retail penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicles reached 67.0% in September. This article is excerpted from the official website of the "Ministry of Commerce", edited by GMTEight's Jiang Yuanhua.