Market Performance of Catering in 2005 and Trends in 2006

1, Survey on catering in 2005:

Total retail sales of catering in 2005 amounted to RMB888.68 billion, up by 17.7% on a year-on-year basis and 4.8 percent higher than the growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods, accounting for 13.2%, contributing 7.4% and driving up 2.3% to the increase of total retail sales of consumer goods. Sales tax in the year reached RMB48.88 billion with a year-on-year increase rate of 17.8%.

By Month,（according to uncorrected statistics released by the State Bureau of Statistics, retail sales of catering in 2005 broke through record for 3 times: RMB84.67 billion in Oct., RMB82.31 billion in Nov. and RMB90.51 billion in Dec., the month with biggest sales value, up by 24% compared with the same period of the previous year and 11.5 percent higher than the general growth of total retail sales of consumer goods, contributing 23% to total retail sales of consumer goods, and driving it up by 3%.

By region, retail sales of catering in eastern area were the largest, but the contribution rate in central area was the biggest and the share in western area to total retail sales of consumer goods was the highest. Total retail sales of catering in 11 eastern provinces amounted to RMB500.77 billion, accounting for 56.4% of total nationwide, up by 17.4% compared with the same period of the previous year, accounting for 12.5% of total retail sales of consumer goods of eastern China, contributing 14.8% and driving up 2.1% increase to total retail sales of consumer goods. Guangdong, Shandong and Jiangxi still ranked Top 3 in eastern area in retail sales of catering. Retail sales of catering in central China reached RMB215 billion, accounting for 24.2% of that in the nation, up by 20.4% and accounting for 13.1% of total retail sales of consumer goods in the area, contributing 18.2% and driving up 2.5% to the increase of total retail sales of consumer goods, and Top 3 provinces were Henan, Hubei and Hunan. Retail sales of catering in western area were RMB172.4 billion, accounting for 19.4% of the nation's, up by 15%, and accounting for 14.9% of total retail sales of consumer goods of the area, contributing 15.8% to total retail sales of consumer goods and driving it up by 2.2%.

By province, retail sales of catering of Guangdong Province broke through RMB100 billion for the first time, amounting to RMB117.43 billion and ranking No.1 in the country and keeping the first place of a big province in catering. Shangdong, Jiangsu, Sichuan and Zhjiang were behind. Regarding to increase rate, top 5 provinces were Jilin, Shanxi, Shanghai, Tianjin and Hainan, reaching 53.3%, 28.9%, 25.4%, 20.9% and 20.9% respectively, and as for contribution rate, top 5 provinces were Jilin, Hainan, Shanghai, Sichuan and Shanxi, hitting 3.5%, 25.1%, 22.4%, 20.5% and 20.1% respectively.

By city, there were 17 cities with retail sales of catering over RMB10 billion, 6 more than that in the previous year. Retail sales of catering in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chengdu and Xi'an amounted to RMB35.03 billion, RMB30.17 billion, RMB26.79 billion, RMB20.54 billion and RMB20.54 billion respectively. Shanghai replaced Guangzhou as the head in catering. By growth rate, top 7 cities were Shanghai, Changsha, Zhengzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin, Wuhan and Ningbo, by share to total retail sales of consumer goods, top 10 cities were Xi'an, Chengdu, Dalian, Guangzhou, Zhengzhou, Changsha, Jinan, Tianjin, Chongqing and Shenyang, and share of them exceeded the national average.

2, Main features of catering in 2005:

Retail sales of Catering in 2005 increased rapidly with a two-digit rate for 15 years running and scale of the market was further expanded, up by 161 times compared with 1978, beginning of reform and opening up. Main features were:

First, Per Capita Catering Consumption increased with a high speed.

Second, contribution rate of catering was up by a big margin.

Third, chain operation became the main mode.

3, Trend of catering in 2006:

2006 is the first year of the Eleventh Five-Year Planning, owning to the policy promotion of increasing consumption of residents and expanding consumption demand, capacity of self-initiated innovation will be enhanced in catering industry and scale, industrialization and modernization will be expedited to develop. According to analysis mode for developing catering industry, it is predicted that per capita annual expenditure for catering consumption in 2006 will increase by 17.6% to RMB800. Retail sales of the industry will maintain rising with a high speed at a rate of about 17%, and will exceed RMB900 billion, even break through RMB1 trillion to RMB1.04 trillion