China retail up 2.4%

China’s retail sales rose 2.4% in the first quarter of 2026, a small pickup that points to only modest improvement in household spending. (stats.gov.cn) The National Bureau of Statistics said total retail sales of consumer goods reached 12.77 trillion yuan from January through March, and the growth rate was 0.7 percentage points faster than in the fourth quarter of 2025. March alone rose 1.7% from a year earlier, slower than February’s holiday-boosted pace. (stats.gov.cn) (cnbc.com) The same release showed a split inside consumption. Retail sales of goods rose 2.2% to 11.31 trillion yuan, while catering revenue climbed 4.2% to 1.46 trillion yuan. (stats.gov.cn) Online spending grew faster than store sales. The bureau said online retail sales of goods and services rose 8.0% to 4.98 trillion yuan in the quarter, with online goods sales equal to 24.8% of total retail sales. (stats.gov.cn) China has been trying to shift more growth toward domestic demand as exports and property remain uneven. In the first quarter, gross domestic product grew 5.0% year over year, industrial output rose 6.1%, and fixed-asset investment increased 1.7%, leaving consumption as the softer major data point. (stats.gov.cn) (cnbc.com) Beijing has been leaning on trade-in subsidies to support purchases of cars, appliances and other goods. State media said those programs generated more than 430 billion yuan of sales in the first quarter across more than 60 million purchases. (english.scio.gov.cn) For global consumer-goods companies, China’s retail data is one of the earliest broad reads on how much stock stores may need to carry in coming months. A 2.4% quarterly gain suggests demand is still growing, but not at a pace that would justify aggressive inventory builds. (stats.gov.cn) (tradingeconomics.com) The next monthly retail release will show whether March’s 1.7% gain was a pause after the Lunar New Year or a sign that China’s consumer recovery is still moving in short, uneven steps. (stats.gov.cn)