Retail volume to hit US$604.59b
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-03-24 11:08

China's retail volume will total 5,000 billion yuan (US$604.59 billion) with a year-on-year growth of nine percent this year, according to a report issued by the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday.

The good domestic and international environment will forge a solid basis for the growth, the report said.

Other factors will also help to fuel the growth, such as the increasing income of the residents in both urban and rural areas, improved environment and policy for consumers, the report said.

The gap between retail growth in rural and urban areas will be narrowed from 3.5 percentage points to 2.6 percentage points this year, according to the report.

Given the proportion of retail in the gross domestic products will be 39.7 percent, up 0.4 percentage point year-on-year, China's economic growth will still be led by investment, the report said.

China's retail volume hit 4,580 billion yuan (US$553.81 billion) last year, up 12.1 percent year-on-year.

The growth was hit by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic and recovered since June after the floor period of May last year.

The report highlighted China's four major retail growth belts including the Pearl River Delta region, the Yangtze River Delta region, the Bohai Sea Ring and central China.

Sales of food, garment, electronic home appliance, vehicles, telecommunication facilities, furniture and raw material such as coal, wood and oil were the pulling force of the retail growth, the report said.

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