The consumer goods retail sales in China have surged 17 percent to stand at 8.9 million yuan (about US$1.2 million) in 2007, said the Commerce Ministry at a work conference in Beijing on Saturday.

The increase, which paled the national output growth, was significantly higher than the growth rate of retail sales of consumer goods in 2006, which gained 13.7 percent to 7.6 trillion yuan.

The retail sales have increased by an annual rate of 13.1 percent from 2002, when the number was 4.8 trillion yuan.

Chinese consumers paid more for daily necessities like pork and edible oil in 2007 on price hikes, as the inflation indicative consumer price index has stayed well above the official critical mark of four percent and shot to an 11-year high of 6.9 percent in November last year.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2008)