BEIJING, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's retail sales increased by 17 percent year-on-year to hit 1.4705 trillion yuan (about 230 billion U.S. dollars) in August, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday.

Retail sales in August grew by 1.36 percent from July. From January to August, the country's retail sales rose 16.9 percent year-on-year to 11.49 trillion yuan, according to the NBS.

Urban retail sales jumped 17.1 percent year-on-year to 1.28 trillion yuan in August, while rural retail sales climbed 16.4 percent to 192.2 billion yuan, the NBS said.

Jewelry sales soared 44.4 percent to 15 billion yuan, marking the greatest increase among all consumer goods.

Sales of oil and oil products rose by 38.4 percent to 126.7 billion yuan.

The catering sector generated sales of 171.7 billion yuan in August, a rise of 16.7 percent from a year earlier, while commodities retail sales increased 17 percent to nearly 1.3 trillion yuan, the NBS said.

Source:Wang Guanqun