The report describing the operation of catering industry released by Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on March 15 pointed out that the development of catering industry dramatically boosted the economic growth in China, becoming a major force that stimulates the consumption.

The report says that the growth rate of China's catering industry in 2004 was 10 percent higher than that in the same period last year. The tempo of increase of the catering industry was 8.3 percent quicker than the total retail value of social consumption in the same period, accounting for 13.9 percent of the total retail value of social consumption. Additionally, the contribution rate of the catering industry to the increase of the total retail value of social consumption reached 21 percent, encouraging the total retail value of social consumption to increase by 2.79 percent. The catering industry has become a major force that stimulates the consumption.

The catering industry has realized a retail value of 67.94 billion yuan in February this year, a year-on-year increase of 18.5 percent, and the tempo of increase was 3.6 percent higher than that in the same period last year, taking up 13.6 percent of the total retail value of social consumption or 2.7 percent higher than the increase of the total retail value of social consumption. Particularly, the Spring Festival Golden Week dramatically accelerated the consumption.

The retail volume of catering industry in the first two months this year recorded 141.43 billion yuan, up 17.1 percent from last year, and the tempo of growth was 1.6 percent higher than that in the same period last year or 3.5 percent higher than the total value of social consumption, yielding 13.7 percent of the total value of social consumption. Meanwhile, the development of catering industry in China also accelerates the increase of social consumption retail volume by 2.27 percent, realizing a contribution rate of 16.7 percent to the increase of social consumption retail volume.

Apart from that, China's catering industry also features the characteristics of the rapid increase of per capita catering consumption and the gradual weakening of the impact of Golden Week on the catering industry. Along with the increase of residents' disposal income, the per capita catering consumption has presented a good momentum of rapid growth. As the figure illustrates, the per capita catering consumption in 2004 stood at 576 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.7 percent.

By People's Daily Online