Chinese online retail giant JD has released figures detailing Chinese spending habits during the current coronavirus outbreak.

JD’s delivery business has been heavily impacted by the hundreds of millions of Chinese people choosing to stay indoors because of the disease.

Sales of rice, dairy products and other staple food products have soared 154 per cent year-on-year during this period, with rice and wheat products increasing at 5.4 and 4.7 times respectively. Consumption of cereals surged in late January as much as 15 times compared with the same day on the lunar calendar last year.

Sales of instant food products, bottled water, dairy and seafood items all saw similarly dramatic sales increases.

JD’s fresh-food sales increased 215 per cent over last year. Expectations of an increase in sales saw the firm establishing a “fresh produce emergency team” to pay close attention to sales trends, as well as a daily mechanism to update inventory levels and production information, preparing countermeasures in advance.

Sales of pork increased tenfold, while sales of beef, mutton, poultry and eggs increased 400 per cent. Vegetable sales increased by nearly 450 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Health-related products have also risen sharply, with sales of sterilised alcohol, hand sanitizer, disinfectant, germicidal detergent, clothing antiseptic, disinfectant wipes and toilet cleanser selling in highly elevated numbers to Chinese consumers.