Drug companies registered sales of 1.11 trillion yuan ($179.6 billion) in 2012, a rise of 18 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website on Tuesday.

This contrasts with 23-percent growth in the previous year.

Retail drug sales reached 222.5 billion yuan in 2012, up 16 percent year-on-year, 4 percentage points lower than the previous year, the ministry said.

The income of 848 businesses monitored by the ministry increased 20 percent year-on-year to 794.2 billion yuan in 2012 while their net profits rose 16.5 percent to 16.4 billion yuan, according to data from the ministry.