BEIJING - China's retail sales of consumer goods rose 16.8 percent year-on-year to 8.583 trillion yuan ($1.32 trillion) during the first half of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Wednesday.

In June, the country's retail sales grew 17.7 percent from one year earlier and were up 1.38 percent from May.

Urban retail sales increased 16.9 percent year-on-year to 7.445 trillion yuan during the first half, while rural retail sales climbed 16.2 percent to 1.138 trillion yuan, the NBS said.

The catering sector generated sales of 957.9 billion yuan, a rise of 16.2 percent from a year earlier while commodities retail sales increased 16.9 percent to 7.63 trillion yuan.

Automobile sales slowed during the first half as the government has suspended or canceled preferential policies for vehicle purchases.

Auto sales grew by 15 percent during the first half, down 22.1 percentage points from one year earlier.

The government slashed its car purchase tax for small-engine vehicles from 10 percent to 5 percent in 2009. It raised the lowered tax to 7.5 percent in 2010, and then put it back at the normal rate at the start of this year.

Sales of furniture as well as home appliances and AV equipment jumped 30percent and 21.5 percent during the same period, down 8.5 percentage points and 7.3 percentage points from one year earlier, respectively, the NBS said.