The retail sales of consumer goods in August reached RMB2.75 trillion, going up 10.6% year on year, 0.4 percentage points higher than that in July. With price factor excluded, it grew up by 10.2% year on year, and 0.83% month on month. In January-August, the retail sales of social consumer goods totaled RMB21.05 trillion, up 10.3% year on year, equal to that of January-July. The actual growth rate of the retail sales of the 5,000 enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce was 0.3 percentage points higher than that in July. Official from the Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion pointed out the consumption market saw a growth in August and the characteristics were listed as follows:

1. Online retail sales sustained a rapid growth. In August, the retail sales online of enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce grew up 25.3% year on year, higher than that of stores, supermarkets and shopping mall by 23.6, 18.9 and 17.8 percentage points respectively. According to the statistics of National Bureau of Statistics, in January-August, the online retail sales of the national physical commodities increase by 25.5% year on year, 0.6 percentage point lower than that of January-July, taking up 11.6% of the total retail sales of social consumer goods, equal to that of January-July.

2. Sales of the automobile market speed up. According to the statistics by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales of passenger car in August reached 1,796,000, going up 26.3% year on year. Among these, the sale of passenger car of 1.6 liter or lower liters grew up 40.7% year on year, 0.7 percentage point higher than that of last month. The sales of new energy mobiles maintained a rapid growth of 92.2% year on year. That of automobiles of enterprises above the designated size in August grew up 13.1%, with a growth rate of 3.9 percentage points higher than last month, and that of oil and oil products increased 2.7% year on year, reversing the negative growth since April.

3. Consumption of real estate and its relevant industry grew rapidly. The real estate market continued to pick up and its relevant consumption grew fast. The consumption of home appliance and construction materials monitored by the Ministry of Commerce increase by 13.4% and 11.8% respectively year on year, with 1 and 0.7 percentage point higher than that of July. Among these, the green smart home appliance remained popular and the sales of fridge-freezer energy efficiency class A++, Ultra High-Definition TV and inverter air-conditioner stood out , higher than that of the likewise products by 9.5, 8.6 and 1 percentage points.

4. Culture and entertainment consumption grew fast. The national catering revenue in August reached RMB 303.6 billion, up 10.3% year on year. The revenue of film box office in August reached RMB 4.05 billion, with the best performance in August than ever. In January-August, the national accumulative film box office has hit RMB 30 billion, reaching the goal 29 days earlier than last year. August is the peak tourist season and tourism consumption continued rising. For example, Aba Prefecture in Sichuan Province has accepted 5,157,000 tourists at home and abroad in August, and the tourism revenue hit RMB4.29 billion, up 12.6% and 11.7% respectively year on year.

5. Consumer price rose slightly. In August, CPI was up 1.3% year on year, 0.1 percentage points higher than that of July. In 36 large and medium size cities monitored by the Ministry of Commerce, the prices of agricultural products were down 2.4% year on year, 3.6 percentage points slower than those in July. The wholesale price of pork reached RMB 24.9 per kilogram, up 4.3% year on year, lower than that in July by 11.4 percentage points, falling down for three months in a row. Affected by the strong rainfall and hot weather, the prices of vegetable as a whole continued falling. The average wholesale price of 30 kinds of vegetable reached RMB3.56 per kilo, going up 2.9% month on month and down 10.3% year on year.