In May, retail sales YoY growth turned negative for the first time since the pandemic; divergence between service and goods consumption intensifies (with video)

【Caixin】 In May 2026, the intensity of the “trade-in for old items to replace new ones” program for consumer goods continued to ease, and the effect of prior overspending continued to show up. Combined with the decline in international gold prices and the continued sluggishness in real estate affecting related consumption, growth in goods consumption slowed for the second consecutive month, widening the gap with the growth rate of services consumption.

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on June 16, in May, total retail sales of consumer goods fell 0.6% year-on-year, with the growth rate 0.8 percentage points lower than the previous month. This marked the first negative growth since 2023. Among them, the year-on-year growth rate of retail sales of consumer goods excluding automobiles fell by 0.7 percentage points to 1.1%.

From the seasonally adjusted month-on-month change, which better reflects trends, total retail sales of consumer goods in May fell 0.38%. It remained negative for three consecutive months; the decline narrowed by 0.17 percentage points, indicating that consumption growth has continued to remain lackluster after the Spring Festival holiday.