China's consumer market sustains growth with improving structure in April

China's consumer market continued its upward trend in April, marked by steady scale expansion and structural improvements, thanks to pro-consumption fiscal and financial policies, the ongoing trade-in program for consumer goods, and a surge in spring outings and school break travels, official data showed recently.

Offline consumption payments increased by 1.7 percent year on year in April, according to the latest figures. Spending on goods rose 2.7 percent year on year, driven by electronics and daily necessities, while services spending grew 0.4 percet year on year, with faster growth recorded in transport, dining, and education services.

In April, search volume for keywords such as "spring outings" and "flower viewing" surged 118.1 and 43.4 percent month on month, respectively.

Spending on scenic spots, city parks, and greenways picked up notably from a year ago. Spring outing demand drove instant retail orders toward parks and scenic areas, with order volumes rising 10.5 percent month on month.

Flower-viewing tourism evolved from simple sightseeing into emotional and experiential scenes, driving a 68 percent year-on-year increase in spending on travel photography, including period costumes and Hanfu experiences. Integrated scenarios such as "flower viewing plus camping" and "flower viewing plus accommodation" also saw significant growth.

"The consumer market's positive momentum, marked by scale expansion and structural improvement, benefits from sustained policies including fiscal-financial coordination to boost domestic demand and the consumer goods trade-in program, together with the implementation of service consumption quality-improving initiatives. These have effectively solidified the foundation of consumption recovery and unleashed the vitality of China's mega-sized market," said Xing Yuguan, associate researcher from Big Data Development Department of the National Information Center under the National Development and Reform Commission.

Iran's response to the latest U.S. proposed text for ending the war was sent on Sunday to the Pakistani mediator, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported.

According to the proposed plan, at this stage, negotiations will focus on ending the war in the region, the IRNA report said.

On Feb 28, Israel and the United States launched joint strikes on Tehran and other cities, killing Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, senior commanders, and civilians. Iran responded with waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and U.S. interests in the region.