China's consumption shows recovery during May Day holiday

BEIJING -- China's consumption has shown a recovering trend during the five-day May Day holiday that ended Tuesday, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

Average daily sales of retail enterprises monitored by the MOC increased by 32.1 percent from the previous Tomb-sweeping Day holiday in April, Gao Feng, spokesperson for the MOC, told a press conference.

In breakdown, daily sales of household appliances, daily necessities, cosmetics and clothing surged by 71.1 percent, 53.7 percent, 38.8 percent and 31.2 percent, respectively, from the tomb-sweeping holiday, Gao said.

Consumption of the catering and accommodation industries has also recovered to 70 percent of the same period last year, Gao noted.

In the meantime, the country's e-commerce sector posted robust growth during the May Day holiday, with sales of some large e-commerce companies increased by more than 30 percent year on year. Activities such as shopping festivals and issuing consumer coupons were also held to promote consumption, said Gao.

The daily necessities market ran smoothly, with prices of pork and beef declining 1.3 percent and 0.2 percent from last week, according to the spokesperson.