China's retail sales of consumer goods in July reached 493.5 billion yuan (60.85 billion US dollars), a rise of 12.7 percent year on year, China's National Bureau of Statistics said here on Friday.

Retail sales of consumer goods in the urban area grew 13.8 percent to 333.8 billion yuan, while that in the rural area rose 10.5 percent to 159.7 billion yuan, the bureau said in a monthly report.

The wholesale and retail industries saw a 12.4 percent growth in retail sales which stood at 411.2 billion yuan in July, and the catering industry had a 17.5 percent rise to 68.9 billion yuan.

The retail sales in other industries totaled 13.4 billion yuan, up 0.2 percent from a year earlier.

The report also shows that consumption of petroleum and finished oil products surged 38.2 percent year on year in July, while the sales of automobiles grew 18.2 percent.

Source: Xinhua