CHINA’S online retail sales logged steady growth in the first half of the year, with emerging livestreaming e-commerce gaining steam, according to the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday.

In the January-June period, online retail sales nationwide hit 7.16 trillion yuan (US$1 trillion), up 13.1% year on year, said the ministry, citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The emerging livestreaming e-commerce industry has shown great vitality in this period. Key livestreaming platforms monitored by the commerce ministry sold merchandise worth 1.27 trillion yuan in the first six months of the year, with 110 million livestreaming shows held and 70 million types of products involved.

Over 2.7 million livestreamers are actively engaged in the online sales frenzy, said the ministry.

Eight out of 18 categories of goods monitored by the ministry reported double-digit growth, the data showed.

Specifically, sales of gold, silver and jewelry increased by 33.5% year on year, while sales of communication equipment rose 23.3%.

Online service consumption also demonstrated a robust growth trend, with the sales of tourism products and tickets surging 272.4% from the same period of 2022, and online culture and entertainment jumping nearly 70%, the data showed. (Xinhua)