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Consumer spending up 16 percent in China over holiday

Chinese consumer spending rose 16 percent during the just-ended week-long Lunar New Year holiday compared with the corresponding week last year, state media reported yesterday.

Consumers spent 255 billion yuan (US$35 billion) nationwide during the most important festival of the Chinese calendar, Xinhua news agency said, citing the commerce ministry.

The rise compared with a 15 percent increase in spending during the new year festival last year from 2006 and came in spite of the worst winter weather in half a century that ruined the holiday for many people, Xinhua said.

GOVERNMENT EFFORT

The agency attributed the strong spending over the holiday, which ended on Tuesday, mainly to government efforts to ensure supply of products in demand.

The government released part of its meat reserve to the market and redistributed 400,000 tonnes of vegetables between regions, Xinhua said.

It also exempted vehicles carrying fresh farm products from all road tolls while wholesale suppliers of agricultural products were exempted from "as many charges as possible," it said.

STRANDED MIGRANTS

Sales soared 35 percent in Guangdong, Xinhua said, suggesting trade was fueled by 12 million migrant workers, who were forced to stay there rather than go home because of the ferocious weather that crippled transport networks.

Retail sales, the main gauge of consumer spending, increased 16.8 percent in all of last year.
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