China's consumption market remained a key engine of economic growth in 2025, marked by robust gains in durable goods sales, rapid expansion of new consumption models, emerging scenarios of rural spending, and inbound consumption, according to an official.
At a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on China's commercial operations in 2025 in Beijing on Monday, Yang Mu, head of the Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce, outlined features of China's consumption market in 2025.
"Sales of major durable goods grew at a brisk pace. In 2025, driven by the consumer goods trade-in program, retail sales of home appliances, telecommunications equipment, and furniture at enterprises above the designated size rose by 11 percent, 20.9 percent, and 14.6 percent, respectively, while retail sales of passenger vehicles increased by 3.8 percent," said Yang.
For retail industry, enterprises above the designated size refers to retail businesses with an annual main business revenue of 5 million yuan (about 720,000 U.S. dollars) or more.
"New forms of consumption flourished. New types of consumption, such as digital, green, and health-related consumption, continued to gain momentum, with new business forms, models, and scenarios constantly emerging. Online retail sales of physical goods grew by 5.2 percent, and the market penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicles reached 53.9 percent," she said.
"Rural consumption was vibrant. With steady improvements in county-level commercial systems, consumption potential in rural areas was further unleashed. Retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas reached 6.8 trillion yuan (about 980 billion U.S. dollars), up 4.1 percent year on year, 0.5 percentage points faster than that in urban areas," she said.
"Inbound consumption gained strong momentum. As China expanded its visa-free policy coverage and further optimized departure tax refund policies, 'Travel in China' and 'Shopping in China' continued to gain popularity. Sales of tax-refunded goods nearly doubled. Over the past year since the 240-hour visa-free transit policy was carried out, the number of visa-free inbound foreign visitors has increased by nearly 30 percent," she said.
China's consumption market features new modes, scenarios in 2025
