The statistics indicate that in the month of September the cosmetics retail sector recorded growth of 12.0% to reach a total value of 15,900 million yuan.
In the nine months from January of this year to the end of September, the cosmetic retail sector in the country recorded sales of 130,800 million yuan, which represented a growth of 10.8%.
September cosmetics sales buck all trends
The figures are interesting because they show that during the month of September sales of cosmetics bucked the downward trend for the cosmetics sector, the retail sector and the figures for the China economy as a whole
Indeed, the statistics show that the China economy grew at 7.3% during the third quarter ending in September, which means the economy is on course for annual growth at below 7.5%, and a figure that is down from 7.5% in the second quarter and 7.4% in the first quarter.
However, the figures from the country’s retail segment paint a rosier picture, with total sales growing by 11.6% year-on-year to September to reach 18,915.1 billion yuan.
Retail sales remain buoyant, but trend is still downward
This compares to a growth rate of 13.3% for the retail sector in September 2013, and follows a gradual downward trend for the sector during the course of the year.
For the investment world, the figures represented a mixed message, with analysts noting that the economy is suffering from a continued downward pressure that has been brought about by the stagnation of many global economies, particularly parts of Europe.
However, many of the key indicators on the stock market showed that there was some relief from investors, who had been concerned that the overall economic growth for China would fall below the crucial 7% mark.