Baku, November 3 AZERTAC

Since the beginning of the year, the domestic consumer market maintained a steady growth playing an important role in stabilizing economic growth. According to the statistics of the National bureau of Statistics the retail sales of consumer goods in the first three quarters reached RMB 21,6 trillion, up 10 per cent year on year and 0,1 percentage points higher than that of the first half of the year with the prices factors excluded, the actual growth was 10,5 per cent. The retail sales of consumer goods of September was up 10,9 per cent year on year 0,1 percentage points higher that of August, with the monthly growth rate picking up for two consecutive points. The driving role of consumption to the economy has been strengthening continuously, with the final consumption expenditures contributing 58,4 per cent to the GDP growth in the first three quarters, 9,3 percentage points higher than that of the same period of the previous year. Main features of the consumer are as follows:

New business types grew rapidly. In the first three quarters the retail sales of online goods was up 34,7 year on year accounting 10 per cent of the total social retail sales of consumer goods.

Housing consumption picked up gradually. The picking up of the real estate market drove the consumption of the goods related to housing grew rapidly. In the first three quarters the sales of building materials, furniture and household appliances of enterprises above the designated size were up 18,6 per cent 16,7 per cent and 10,8 respectively.

Consumption for basic living goods grew steadily. Rigid consumption for food and living goods grew steadily. In the first three quarters sales of food and living goods of the enterprises above designated size were up 13,9 per cent and 11,8 per cent respectively.

Hotspots of public leisure consumption sprung up. With the upgrading of the consumption structure, public demands for leisure and entertainment saw sustainable growth. In the first three quarters the revenue of social catering was up 11,7 year on year 2 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year. Among these catering revenue enterprises under the designated size was up 13,5 per cent 6,5 percentage points higher than that of enterprises above designated size. The sales of sports and the entertainment goods of the enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce were up 8,3 per cent year on year 4,4 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year.

According to the Customs statistics, China's total import and export in September 2015 reached RMB 2,22 trillion, down 8.8% year on year (the same as below). Among them, the export was 1.3 trillion Yuan, down 1,1% and import 92% trillion Yuan, down 17,7%. The trade surplus was RMB 376,2 billion, up 96,1%. In terms of the US dollar, the total import and export reached US$ 350,8 billion, down 11,4%, among which, the export was US $ 205,6 billion, down 3,7% and the import US $ 145,2 billion, down 20,4%. The trade surplus was US$ 60,3 billion, up 93,3 %. The foreign trade in September presented the following features;

The decrease of export slowed down, but the import was still depressed. In September, with the foreign trade steady growth and with the effects of the policy of structure adjusting gradually showing, the decrease of export continued slowing down, 5 percentage points slower than that of the previous month. Affected by the low price of bulk commodities and the high base number of the same period of 2014, the import continued the negative growth, decreasing more than 3,3 percentage points that that of the previous month.

Growth of exports of general trade recovered, but the decrease of processing trade expanded, imports and exports of general trade were RMB 1,194 1 billion, down 4,5%. Among these, exports picked up after two months, increasing 4,8%. Imports and exports of the processing trade were RMB 700,5 billion, down 17,7%, 7,8% percentage points higher than that of the previous month. Among these, affected by the high base number of the same period of last year and the transfer of orders, imports were down 30% imports and exports of other trade were RMB 329,5 billion, down 2,2%.

Export of mechanical and electrical products saw a rapid growth, and the import of some bulk commodities increased but the price dropped. The export of mechanical products and hi-tech products was RMB 754,6 billion and RMB 377,2 billion, up 8% and 7,6% respectively, with a record high rapid growth since March. Among these, the export of ships, integrated circuit and lamps and lanterns were up 120%, 20,9 and 9,4% respectively.

Imports and exports of Eastern China were better than those of the whole country, and those of Western and Central China decreased slightly. Imports and exports of the Eastern China reached RMB 1,8903 trillion, down 8,3%.0,5 percentage points power than those of the whole country.