The decline in China retail sales sparked by the advent of Covid-19 slowed substantially in May as the country continued to reopen for business.

The consumer goods retail sector in China saw a year-on-year decline of 2.8 per cent last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

That decline was a significant improvement on April, when China retail sales fell by 7.5 per cent.

Retail takings hit US$451 billion during May. 

However, the mainland’s catering industry remained heavily affected by the pandemic, with sales down by 18.9 per cent year on year last month. That was still better than the 31.1-per-cent decline of April.

Statistics show that online shopping is continuing to boom, with a 4.5 per cent increase during the first five months of this year over last year’s results.