According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in the January-June period, sales of telecommunications devices jumped 70.5 percent year-on-year, while sales of motor vehicles, office equipment and household appliances went up 36 percent, 22.2 percent and 13.6 percent respectively. Meanwhile, sales of sports and recreational apparatuses rose 8 percent and decoration materials were up 28.6 percent.

NBS figures show that invigorated consumption helped push up the volume of retail sales by 10.3 percent year-on-year to 1,791. 52 billion yuan in the first half of the year. Consumers spent a larger part of their daily expenditure on household necessities.

NBS said that the increase in retail sales was mainly due to the growing incomes of urban and rural residents, increased spending on holidays and optimized structure of market supply.

However, NBS statistics show that consumption growth in rural areas still lagged behind that in urban areas. During the January-June period, retail sales in urban areas rose 11.6 percent, growing 3.5 percentage points faster than in rural areas.

(Xinhua News Agency 07/20/2001)