"The overall consumption in the first half this year rose between two and three percent over the same period last year despite the impact of SARS," said Huang Guoxiong, a professor with the Beijing-based Renmin University of China.

Total consumption in China is expected to increase more than 8.5 percent in the second half of the year, he said.

SARS severely hit the tourism and recreation sectors, but it also boosted the consumption of medicine, medical equipment, sports facilities and cars, he said.

The SARS impact on sales of department stores in major cities began to emerge from March, said Fan Yanru, deputy head of the China Association of Department Stores.

Statistics from the association indicated that from late March to the middle of April, sales in large department stores in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan dropped by up to 20 percent.

But from late April to early May, the figures plunged by more than 40 percent, she said.

However, the dive in sales was countered to some degree by the sales surge in the first three months of the year.

From January to March, sales in retail businesses nationwide jumped 23 percent over the same period last year to 54.8 billion yuan (US$6.7 billion).

After SARS was controlled in China, sales in department stores began to recover. In the first half of June, sales volume in 100 major department stores in the country surged 11.6 percent, said Wang Yao, deputy secretary with the China Commerce Federation.

Meanwhile, sales in more than half of other retail businesses also rose, with most registering sales increases of up to 20 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2003)