China's retail sales up 3.7 pct in H1

BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- China's retail sales of consumer goods went up 3.7 percent year on year in the first half (H1) of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.

The country's retail sales of consumer goods totaled nearly 23.6 trillion yuan (about 3.3 trillion U.S. dollars) in H1, data from the NBS showed.

With the solid implementation of pro-consumption policies, the consumer market scale has continued to grow in the first half of they year, said Yu Jianxun, an official with the NBS.

In June alone, retail sales was up 2 percent year on year, data from the NBS showed.

Boosted by sales promotions and new e-commerce models, China's online retail sales went up 9.8 percent year on year during the first six months, sustaining a relatively fast growth.

Online sales of physical goods increased 8.8 percent from a year ago, accounting for 25.3 percent of total retail sales during the period.

Services consumption stood out as a bright spot, with retail sales of services expanding 7.5 percent from a year ago in H1. The figure was 4.3 percentage points higher than that of goods.

The catering industry reported a 7.9-percent increase in revenue, while retail sales of goods rose 3.2 percent, according to the NBS.

Monday's data also showed that China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 5 percent year on year in H1, with the second quarter registering a growth of 4.7 percent.