The consumer goods retail sales in China have surged 17 percent
to stand at 8.9 million yuan (about US$1.2 million) in 2007, said
the Commerce Ministry at a work conference in Beijing on
Saturday.
The increase, which paled the national output growth, was
significantly higher than the growth rate of retail sales of
consumer goods in 2006, which gained 13.7 percent to 7.6 trillion
yuan.
The retail sales have increased by an annual rate of 13.1
percent from 2002, when the number was 4.8 trillion yuan.
Chinese consumers paid more for daily necessities like pork and
edible oil in 2007 on price hikes, as the inflation indicative
consumer price index has stayed well above the official critical
mark of four percent and shot to an 11-year high of 6.9 percent in
November last year.
(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2008)
