China's retail sales up 12.9% in May

China's retail sales growth slightly accelerated in May but was still below the government's target for 2013, suggesting subdued domestic demand, new data showed Sunday.

Retail sales grew 12.9 percent year-on-year to 1.89 trillion yuan ($306.8 billion) in May, picking up from the 12.8-percent rise seen in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said in an online statement.

The growth was slower than the 14.5-percent target the government expects for the full year.

In breakdown, the catering sector reported a 9.2 percent year-on-year rise in revenues, quickening from the 7.9-percent gain recorded in April, while sales of other consumer products increased 13.3 percent.

After being adjusted for inflation, retail sales went up 12.1 percent last month.

After years of rapid growth generated by investment and exports, China has been looking to shift the focus of its economy to consumption to boost growth.

Last year, consumption contributed to about 51.8 percent of China's GDP growth, while fixed-asset investment helped drive around 50.4 percent. Exports took up a negative 2.2 percent, the NBS data showed.

 

China's urban fixed-asset investment up 20.4% in January-May

China's urban fixed asset investment rose 20.4 percent year-on-year to 13.12 trillion yuan (2.13 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first five months of 2013, the National Bureau of Statistics announced on Sunday.

The growth rate slightly decelerated by 0.2 percentage points compared to the first four months, according to data released by the NBS.

During the January-May period, investment in primary industry rose 31.1 percent to 273 billion yuan, while that in secondary and tertiary industry climbed 15.7 percent and 23.9 percent to 5.67 trillion yuan and 7.18 trillion yuan, respectively, the data showed.

Investment in the nation's central regions witnessed rapid growth of 23.9 percent, followed by 22.7 percent in the west and 19 percent in east China.

Investment in property development rose 20.6 percent to 2.68 trillion yuan in the January-May period, down 0.5 percentage point compared to the first four months, the data showed.

Property developers purchased 117.56 million square meters of land in the first five months, down 13.1 percent year on year; however, the total land costs rose 3.7 percent to 271.8 billion yuan, the data showed.

Meanwhile, investment by private companies increased 23.8 percent year on year to 8.38 trillion yuan in the first five months, the data showed. The figure accounted for 63.9 percent of the nation's total fixed-asset investment during the period.