Consumption Market Grows SteadilyChina's retail sales saw a year-on-year growth of 9.9 percent over the first three quarters of the year, 3.6 percentage points higher than the growth for the same period last year.Figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Friday show that retail sales totaled 2,433.55 billion yuan from January to September. The gap in growth rates between retail sales in urban and rural areas widened to 2.2 percentage points in the period, with growth of 10.7 percent for the urban areas and 8.5 percent for the rural areas. The NBS said that the steady growth in consumption was due to a strong economy, growing sales during long holidays, improving conditions for individual consumption, dropping prices and the rapid growth in the catering sector. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |