Consumption has become the main driving force of China's economic growth for six years in a row, contributing 57.8 percent to economic growth and driving GDP growth up by 3.5 percentage points.

Visitors watch electric home appliances at the 126th Canton Fair. (Photo/Xinhua)

Retail sales of consumer goods totaled 41.2 trillion yuan (about $6 trillion) in 2019, an increase of 8 percent.

At a press conference on business work and operations in 2019 held by the State Information Office, Qian Keming, Vice Minister of Commerce, said that business operations were generally stable and made steady progress in 2019, with the improvement and expansion of the quality of consumption, foreign trade and foreign investment.

Statistics from these fields have all reached record highs, made new achievements in the development of high-quality commerce, and made positive contributions to economic and social development.

The overall operation of China's consumer market in 2019 was stable, the scale expanded steadily, the structure continued to optimize, and the fundamental role of consumption in economic growth was further consolidated, said Chu Shijia, head of the Comprehensive Department of the Ministry of Commerce.

China's consumption structure continues to be upgraded. Purchases of wearable smart devices, smart household appliances and other goods are growing rapidly. The proportion of communications equipment and cosmetics increased by 8.5 percent and 12.6 percent respectively.

The potential of rural consumption continues to be realized. The total volume of retail sales of rural consumer goods increased by 9 percent, 1.1 percentage points higher than that of cities and towns. The per capita expenditure on education, culture and entertainment of rural residents maintained double-digit growth.

Consumer demand for services continues to be strong. The proportion of service consumption exceeded 50 percent for the first time, reaching 50.2 percent, an increase of 0.7 percentage points over the previous year. The income for the catering industry went up by 9.4 percent, and consumption of culture, tourism, recreation and other services increased rapidly.

Online retail has maintained rapid growth. The growth rate of online retail sales of physical goods was 11.5 percent faster than that of retail sales of consumer goods, leading to a national express delivery business volume of 63.5 billion pieces, an increase of 25 percent.

At the same time, vitality of market entities has also increased. In 2019, 15.9 million new market entities became involved in domestic trade, an average of 44,000 per day.