Market

by+Li+Yili

Market performance and features

The domestic consumer market remained stable since the beginning of the year. In the first quarter， the retail sales of consumer goods reached RMB7.1 trillion， up 10.6% year on year， and the actual growth was 10.8% with the price factor excluded， 1.4 and 0.1 percentage points slower than that of the same period of last year. According to the monitoring of the Ministry of Commerce， the sales of 5，000 major enterprises in the first quarter were up 4.6%， 1.1 percentage points slower than that of the same period last year. The main features are as follows：

The online retail remained as a strong momentum. According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics， the retail sales of online goods in the first quarter increased 41%， accounting for 8.9% of the total retail sales of consumer goods， contributing 27.1% to the growth of the total retail sales of consumer goods and driving it to increase 2.9 percentage points. According to the monitoring of the Ministry of Commerce， the sales of online shops of the 5，000 major retail en- terprises were up 39.7%， 14.5 percentage points higher than that of the same period of last year.

Consumption for communication products was still hot. The user structure of mobile phones speeded up its upgrading， and the net increase of 4G users in the first quarter was estimated to be over 60 million. In January-February， the business of telecommunication service was up 21.6% year on year， and the sales of communication equipment of units above designated size in the first quarter were up 38.5% year on year， 23.3 percentage points higher than that of the same period of last year.

Catering consumption picked up steadily. Affected by the market adjustment and transformation of enterprises， public catering consumption has become the mainstream of the market， and catering market picked up. The statistics of National Bureau of Statistics showed that， in the first quarter， the catering revenue was up 11.3% year on year， 1.5 percentage points higher than that of the same period of last year. Among that， the revenue of units above designated size was up 5.5%， 4.5 percentage points higher than that of the same period of last year.

Consumption for housing and transportation increased steadily. With the popularization of intelligent household electrical appliance and the increase of demands for upgrading housing and accommodation， the consumption for housing and transportation grew rapidly. In the first quarter， sales of household electrical appliance， building materials and furniture of units above designated size were up 13.7%， 15.8% and 15.4% respectively， 4.5， 3.6 and 1.2 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year. According to the statistics of China Automotive Industry Association， sales of passenger vehicles in the first quarter was up 9% year on year； sales of new energy automobiles enjoyed a rapid growth， reaching 2.8 times.

Consumer prices witnessed a lowprice running. In the first quarter， CPI was up 1.2% year on year， 1.1 percentage points slower than that of the same period of last year. Among which， CPI in March was up 1.4%， the same as that of February. According to the monitoring by the Ministry of Commerce， in 36 large and medium-sized cities， prices of agrofoodstuff in the first quarter were down 1.3% year on year， among which， that the price of March was down 1.0%， 0.3 percentage points higher than that of February. In the first quarter， prices of mutton， pork and vegetable were down 6.5%， 5.8% and 5.2% respectively， while the prices of eggs and fruits were up 8.6% and 5.3% respectively.

Foreign Trade

According to the Customs statistics， Chinas total import and export in the first quarter of 2015 reached RMB 5.54 trillion， down 6% year on year （the same below） . The export was RMB 3.15 trillion， up 4.9%， and import RMB 2.39 trillion， down 17.3%. The trade surplus was RMB 755.3 billion， up 6.1 times. In terms of the U.S. dollar， the total import and export reached US$ 904.2 billion， down 6.3% year on year， among which， the export was US$ 513.9 billion， up 4.7%， and the import US$ 390.2 billion， down 17.6%. The trade surplus was US$ 123.7 billion， up 6.1 times. The main characteristics of the foreign trade in the first quarter are as follows：

The export growth fluctuated and import decreased largely. Affected by the declining of the world trade， Chinas export in the first quarter maintained a growing momentum， but 3.7 percentage points slower than that of the fourth quarter of 2014. Affected by the Spring Festival， export growth fluctuated， with that of January down 3.2%， February up 48.9%， and March down 14.6%. Encumbered by the import price falling down 9.8% and weak domestic demands， the national import decreased， 15.7 percentage points higher than that of the last quarter， among which the price of March was down 12.3%， 7.6 percentage points slower than that of the first two months.

Export to the U.S. enjoyed a rapid growth， and import from countries with abundant resources witnessed a large decline. Chinas export to the U.S. was up 11.5%， driving the overall export up 1.9 percentage points. Chinas export to EU was up 2.8%， and export to Japan and Hong Kong down 11.5% and 10.1% respectively. Imports from South Africa， Brazil， Russia， India and Australia were down 48.1%， 37.3%， 32.4%， 29% and 26.9% respectively， dragging the overall import down 4.5 percentage points.

The dominant status of the general trade was further promoted， while import and export of processing trade had a negative growth. The import of general trade reached RMB 3.0672 trillion， down 5.7%， accounting for 55.3% of the total import and export， 0.2 percentage point higher year on year， among that， export was up 12.2%， driving the national export up 6.2 percentage points. The import and export of processing trade reached RMB 1.7416 trillion， down 6.5%， with export and import down 5.9% and 7.7% respectively. The import and export of other trade was RMB 734.5 billion， down 5.9%.

The export of mechanical and electrical products was better than the entirety， and import prices of major bulk commodities fell down. Export of mechanical and electrical products was RMB 1.8182 trillion， up 6.4%， 1.5 percentage points higher than the overall export， driving the national export up 3.6 percentage points， among that， growth rate of part of highend manufactured products like ships and metal-working machines was over 20%. Export of seven kinds of labor intensive products like textile and garment reached RMB 629.2 billion， up 6.1%. In the same period， the import prices of crude oil， iron ore， refined oil， liquefied petroleum gas， soybean， copper ore and copper products were down 46.8%， 45%， 38.7%， 21%， 18.6%， 13.9% and 13.2% respectively， dragging the overall import price down 10.5 percentage points. Import of new high-tech products reached RMB 739.9 billion， up 0.7%.

The proportion of Central and Western China increased， and regional development was more harmonized. Import and export of Central and Western China reached RMB 868.7 billion， up 2.6%， accounting for 15.7% of the total import and export， up 1.3 percentage points year on year. Among that， export of Central and Western China was up 15.7%， contributing 53.3% to the national export. Import and export of Eastern China was RMB 4.6744 trillion， down 7.3%.

The private enterprises became the major driving force of export， and stateowned enterprises declined largely. The import and export of private enterprises reached RMB 1.9329 trillion， down 5.9%， among which， export up 12.5%， contributing 102.7% to the growth of export. Import and export of state-owned enterprises was RMB 967.5 billion， down 14.1%， 8.1 percentage points higher than the entirety. Import and export of foreign invested enterprises was RMB 2.6428 trillion， down 2.7%.