In this August, the retail sale of social consumer goods totaled 426.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year rise of 13.1%, of which, that in the cities was 282 billion yuan, a year-on-year rise of 14.2%;that in the area at the county level and below was 144.2 billion yuan, up 11%.

    Analyzed by industry, the retail sale of the wholesale & retail trade reached 352.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year rise of 12.5%; that of catering trade was 60.6 billion yuan, up 19.6%; that of other industries registered 12.8 billion yuan, up 1.8%.

    Analyzed by category, the price of foods went up 13.9% year on year, which was the main factor in the price rise of this August, and that of non-foods climbed only 1.0%, that of consumer goods ascended 6.3%, that of service items was up 2.0%.

    The retail sale of foods, clothes and daily-used articles by the wholesale and retail enterprises above designated size showed the year-on-year rises of 23.4%, 16.3% and 17.6% respectively. Specifically speaking, the retail sale of meat, poultry and eggs was up 24.7%, that of other foods including grains went up 27.7%. The retail sale of petroleum & its products ascended 48.7%, that of communications was up 38.8%, that of automobiles and related products climbed 9.8%, that of clothes edged up 16.3%, that of knitted and woven products was up 25%, that of cosmetics went up 20.1%, that of gold, silver and other jewelry was up 25.8%, that of the articles for washing and cleaning climbed 19.1%, that of furniture ascended 34.4%, that of cultural and office articles was up 20.1%, that of books, newspaper and magazines rose 12.4%, and that of home electric appliances and audio-visual apparatuses went up 1.3%.

    In the first eight months of this year, the retail sale of the social consumer goods totaled 3372.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year rise of 12.9%.