The retail sales of China's catering sector are expected to hit
1.21 trillion yuan (US$151.25 billion) in 2007, a year-on-year rise
of around 17 percent, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) forecast on
Thursday.
Per capita spending in the sector will reach 915 yuan this year,
compared with only eight yuan in 1978, when China adopted the
policy of reform and opening up to the outside world, according to
MOC statistics.
The ministry analysis said that China's catering sector still
has great room for development, because currently consumers are
mainly urban residents and there is huge market potential in rural
areas.
China's average per capita spending in the sector was US$100
compared with US$1,600 in the United States and US$1,050 in
France.
The ministry listed a rise in commercial activities,
exhibitions, traveling and recreation activities as the main
factors that drove up sales.
Retail sales of China's catering sector hit 1.03 trillion yuan
last year, an increase of 16.4 percent year-on-year and 5.7 percent
higher than the national GDP growth rate. Last year was the 16th
straight year the sector posted double-digit growth.
The sector accounted for 13.5 percent of the country's total
retail sales of consumer goods last year, raising the national
consumer product retail volume by 2.2 percent and creating about 20
million jobs, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2007)