Today, July 15th, the National Bureau of Statistics of China released the latest data on retail sales of consumer goods.
The data shows that in June, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 4.2287 trillion yuan ($589.4 billion), a year-on-year increase of 4.8%. Specifically, the retail sales of cosmetics were 40.7 billion yuan ($5.6 billion), a decrease of 2.3% compared to the same period last year. From January to June, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 24.5458 trillion yuan ($3.42 trillion), up by 5.0% year-on-year. The retail sales of cosmetics during this period were 229.1 billion yuan, an increase of 2.9%.
Overall, from January to June, the national online retail sales reached 7.4295 trillion yuan ($1.03 trillion), an increase of 8.5% year-on-year. Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods were 6.1191 trillion yuan, up by 6.0%, accounting for 24.9% of the total retail sales of consumer goods. Within the online retail sales of physical goods, the categories related to consumption (food), clothing, and daily necessities grew by 15.7%, 1.4%, and 5.3%, respectively.
Analyzing the total retail sales of cosmetics in June over the past five years (2021-2025), it was observed that from 2021 to 2023, there was a growth trend each year, albeit with a slowing growth rate. In 2024, there was a first-time decline in June’s total retail sales of cosmetics, with a decrease of 14.6%. This year, in June, the total retail sales of cosmetics still decreased by 2.3% year-on-year.
Furthermore, looking at the monthly retail data of cosmetics this year, from January to April, there was positive growth, with April showing the largest increase. However, from May to June, there was a trend of decline.
Regarding customs import data, in June 2025, the total volume of imported “cosmetics and toiletries” nationwide was 28,927.2 tons, with an import value of 1.311 billion US dollars. From January to June 2025, the cumulative import volume of “cosmetics and toiletries” reached 171,027.6 tons, an increase of 8.6% year-on-year, with a cumulative import value of 8.324 billion US dollars, a decrease of 0.4% year-on-year.
