Consumer market maintaining good recovery

China has seen a good momentum of recovery in the consumer market, with over 95 percent of major companies in the retail sector having resumed work, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

As of June 1, the rate of work resumption of major enterprises had exceeded 95 percent, the ministry said. Meanwhile, on 11 pilot pedestrian street malls it has decided to transform and upgrade, 94.5 percent of stores had opened for business, while passenger traffic and turnover had recovered to 80.3 percent and 81.6 percent, respectively, from the same period last year.

In late May, the average daily sales of retail businesses rose 4.8 percent from mid-May. 

In addition, the business activity indexes of the retail sector and catering industry both exceeded 55 percent in May. The retail sector has remained above 50 percent for three consecutive months, while the catering industry index is over 50 percent for the second consecutive month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

"With regard to supporting small and micro enterprises in the field of commerce and trade circulation, we will work together with relevant departments to take the promotion of the small shop economy as the main task, accelerating their development in facilitation, characteristics and digitization," said Gao Feng, a ministry spokesman.

"We will promote the formation of a multi-tiered, multi-category small shop economy, and encourage small and micro businesses engaged in the commerce and trade sector to increase employment, expand consumption and boost economic vitality," Gao added.