China retail sales growth slows to 14-month low

China’s retail sales rose 2.9% year-on-year in October 2025, easing slightly from September’s 3.0% increase and marking the weakest growth since August 2024.

Still, the latest result beat market expectations of 2.7%, amid ongoing consumer subsidy programs and increased holiday spending.

Sales moderated for sports and entertainment goods (10.1% vs 11.9% in September) alongside sharp declines in household appliances and audio-visual equipment (-14.6% vs 3.3%), cars (-6.6% vs 1.6%), building materials (-8.3% vs -0.1%), and petroleum products (-5.9% vs -7.1%).

In contrast, turnover strengthened for grain, oil, and food (9.1% vs 6.3%), gold, silver, and jewelry (37.6% vs 9.7%), clothing, shoes, hats, and textiles (6.3% vs 4.7%), cosmetics (9.6% vs 8.6%), office supplies (13.5% vs 6.2%), and communication equipment (23.2% vs 16.2%).

For the first ten months of 2025, retail trade increased 4.3% from a year earlier.