Retail sales are still going south
Business briefs from the Chinese media — Thursday December 15
Abbott pulls out of China’s milk powder market: U.S. medical devices and nutrition company Abbott announced yesterday that it is phasing out its infant nutritional products business in China and focusing on nutritional products for adults. Abbott opened a milk powder plant in China in 2014, but its market share has decreased since then with the rise of domestic milk powder brands.
Another plan to stimulate consumer demand: Yesterday, the State Council released the Strategic Plan for Expanding Domestic Demand 2022-2035, which envisages a rising middle income group of consumers.
But retail sales are still going south: According to the National Bureau of Statistics, retail sales of consumer goods in November amounted to 3.86 trillion yuan ($555.34 billion), a decrease of 5.9% year-on-year.
The rural tap water penetration rate has reached 87%, according to the Ministry of Water Resources. A total of 91.8 billion yuan ($13.17 billion) has been invested in rural water supply projects this year, and 16,000 projects have been completed that involved 332,000 workers.
