(Yicai) Aug. 17 -- China has made a historical move by starting to release service retail data separately for the first time, highlighting residents' shift to consume more services in addition to goods.

From January to July, retail sales of services jumped by 20 percent from a year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics said recently in a historical announcement. Meanwhile, retail sales of consumer goods rose much slower at 7 percent, which proves that domestic tourism, healthcare, and professional services have recovered rapidly since the nation ended its strict anti-Covid policies.

Chinese people are starting to consume differently as the pattern is shifting from the consumption of consumer goods to both commodities and services, per Fu Linghui, spokesperson of the NBS.

China strives to diversify its export-oriented economy to add more high-quality domestic services. The National Development and Reform Commission recently said the goal is to raise residents' consumption of food and beverage, tourism, entertainment, sports and exhibitions, and health services.

Changing times require new indicators. The earlier total retail sales of consumer goods cannot comprehensively reflect the situation anymore as services make up over 40 percent of the national per capita consumer expenditure, Fu explained.

Retail sales of services include catering, transportation, accommodation, education, health, sports, and entertainment whereas the earlier gauge was about physical goods and catering. The NBS did not disclose what will happen to the F&B overlap.

In the first half, 44.5 percent of consumer expenditure per capita consisted of services, up from 39.7 percent in 2013. But the figures are far below those of developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and some European nations, where the share ranges from 50 percent to even 60 percent, according to Bian Jing, researcher at the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research.

Boosting service consumption is an important way to hike domestic demand and drive the upgrading of consumption patterns, as well as high-quality macroeconomic development, Wang Yiming, vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, wrote in an article earlier.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine