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China Retail Purchasing Managers’ Index (CRPI) for May reached 51.1%, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous month, marking the fifth consecutive month above the 50 line that separate expansion and contraction, according to the China Commercial Federation.
The data indicates that the retail industry is seeing a comprehensive recovery, and business confidence is further increasing, it said.
By category, the commodity business index was 50.8%, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month; the leasing business index was 52.2%, up 0.3 percentage point; and the e-commerce business index was 51.2%, up 1.2 percentage points.
As the peak season for online consumption in the first half approaches, the confidence of e-commerce operators is increasing, and offline customer traffic is growing rapidly, with both the commodity business and leasing business customer traffic indexes hitting the highest since May of last year, it said.