the official gauge of retail sales only covers spending on physical goods and excludes services beijing consumption growth in china is very likely to slow further this year as the economy cools the commerce ministry said on tuesday underlining the rising risks facing the asian giant as it navigates a trade war with the united states chinese authorities have already rolled out a flurry of support measures to temper the effects of the trade dispute on businesses and investment and are counting on the nations vast consumer base to cushion a broader economic slowdown the medium to longterm accumulated contradictions and risks throughout economic development are going to become more prominent in 2019 wang bin a commerce ministry official told reporters during a briefing advt the pressure facing the consumer market will increase and consumption growth is very likely to slow further wang said softness in retail sales last year which saw growth averaging 9 percent for the slowest in 15 years was due to periodic weakness in car sales and housingrelated spending though other categories continue to post relatively normal growth sales in the worlds biggest auto market shrank for the first time since the 1990s japans panasonic corp last week cut its annual profit outlook after disappointing quarterly earnings it blamed on slowing chinese demand for auto components and factory equipment retail sales growth during the just concluded lunar new year holidays slipped to its lowest since at least 2011 further evidence consumers remain cautious as the economy hits the brakes however wang cautioned against becoming overly gloomy on the retail sector saying government policy support measures should cushion the downside indeed the luxury goods market appeared to have been unscarred by the general slowdown in the retail sector strong chinese demand helped loreal estee lauder cos inc beat sales forecasts in the fourth quarter while the french luxury handbag label hermes said sales momentum in its chinese stores stayed strong last quarter advt chinas rich consumers appetite for luxury products will remain robust this year with strong growth in purchasing power among the younger generations state newspaper china daily said on tuesday citing an industry survey from ruder finn and consumer search group the official gauge of retail sales only covers spending on physical goods and excludes services royal caribbean cruises ltd said it was heading into 2019 with record bookings for cruises and seeing higher demand from chinese tourists reuters published on feb 12 2019 at 0104 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etauto app get realtime updates save