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| Issue 11, 2004 (01 November) |
Consumption in Wining and Dining Heats Up in Xian
Xian's statistics bureau has recently published the macro-economic data of the city for the first eight months of 2004, which shows that an increase of over 10% in people's per capita disposable income is matched by a corresponding increase in spending, with foodstuffs experiencing relatively sharp price hikes and the catering sector becoming a consumption hot spot.
Local aggregate consumer price index for the month of August stayed constant as that of the preceding month, reversing the downward trend which has continued for three consecutive months. Local consumer price level for August has climbed 3.6% year-on-year while that for January-August has gone up by 3.1% year-on-year. Of this, prices of food have shot up by a bigger margin than those of non-foodstuffs, up 8.7% year-on-year in August and 8.3% year-on-year for January-August.
Statistics show that Xian's total consumer goods retail sales for the first eight months of 2004 reached Rmb31.96 billion, up 14.73% year-on-year while sales for August alone stood at Rmb3.647 billion, up 13.96%. People's favourite consumption areas include:
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Catering, with the sector recording Rmb7.279 billion in retail during the first eight months of 2004, up 17.67%, the strongest growth among all sectors. Various forms of wining and dining with local delicacies, be it snacks, branded restaurants or night markets, are highly popular with consumers;
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Holiday spending, with added impetus from both domestic and foreign tourists;
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Sales of meat, poultry and eggs; garments, footwear, hats, knitwear and textiles; and fine jewellery posted strong growths of 24.94%, 20.54% and 19.81% year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2004 respectively.
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