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🇨🇳 China's first retail contraction since the pandemic exposes a widening production-consumption split
The day in view

🇨🇳 China's first retail contraction since the pandemic exposes a widening production-consumption split

Macro Soup Newsroom Macro Soup Newsroom 3 min read

China retail sales contracted −0.6% year-on-year in May, the first negative reading since December 2022's COVID lockdowns. Fixed asset investment missed at −4.1% against a −2.0% forecast. Factories are running harder; consumers are pulling back.

Stacked shipping containers at a port with a Chinese flag flying in the foreground.
China's retail sales contracted for the first time since 2022, underscoring the drag from weak consumer demand despite resilient industrial output. Source

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