In the first half of this year, measures taken against the pandemic have impacted China’s economy quite heavily. Shanghai’s city-wide lockdown, that lasted for more than two months, is unprecedented in its urban economy. Consumption wise, based on the key indicator of total retail sales of consumer goods in Shanghai, the total social consumption in April and May dropped by 48.3% and 36.5% year-on-year respectively. The total social consumption in January-April and January-May were RMB 509.925 billion and RMB 604.754 billion respectively, down 14.2% and 18.7% year-on-year.
In terms of consumable food products, the total sales in May were RMB 27.374 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 14.2%; the total sales from January to May were RMB 142.781 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 10.7%. From the changes in the categories of consumer goods, it can be seen that the lockdown exerted a great impact on production and consumption.
With reference to foreign trade, data from the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics indicated that in April, Shanghai’s total foreign trade import and export volume was RMB 219.149 billion, down 36.5% y-o-y.
As regard prices, in May this year, Shanghai’s consumer price rose by 4.6% year-on-year. Among them, the price of consumer goods rose by 7.5%, and the price of services rose by 1.4%. In May, the prices of vegetables, edible fungi, and eggs rose by 50.8% and 52.3% respectively (59% and 53.4% in April). The prices of dried and fresh melons and fruits and aquatic products rose by 35.9% and 19.6% respectively, and the increase continued to expand.
[ RMB 1 = €0,14 ]
Source: eurasiareview.com