Hotels and catering services 2020

China's catering industry has recovered to 70-80 percent of pre-COVID-19 level in the first half of this year, Sina Finance reported.

The revenue of the industry reached 1.46 trillion yuan ($210 billion) with decrease narrowing and gradual recovering trend in the first six months, according to a report on resumption of work in the catering sector.

Although recovering gradually, China's catering industry still faces challenges including policy constraints, rent affects, high commissions and shortage of funds, said the report released by China Cuisine Association.

In the first four months of 2020, the Index of Services Production declined 9.9 percent year-on-year, 1.8 percentage points less than in the first quarter. In April, the Index of Services Production dropped 4.5 percent year-on-year, 4.6 percentage points lower than in March.

Specifically, in April, accommodation, restaurant and food services declined 33.7 percent, which was actually a narrowing of 15.4 percentage points compared with the decline in March.

Data from NBS showed that between January and April, the sales revenue of China's catering industry decreased by 41.2 percent on a yearly basis to 833.3 billion yuan. In April, the sales revenue was 230.7 billion yuan. Although the drop narrowed to 31.1 percent on a yearly basis, the downward pressure for the entire industry was still huge.

The takeout sector has become a way for restaurants to deal with the effect of the epidemic. Data from Meituan Waimai showed that by May, 70 percent of merchants had resumed over 60 percent of their takeout orders, and 30 percent of merchants achieved even better sales in takeout services than they had before the epidemic.