BEIJING -- China's retail sales of consumer goods extend the momentum of last year with a 14.7-percent growth in the first two months of 2007, the latest statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

Sales rose 14.7 percent year on year to 1.45 trillion yuan (US$181.3 billion) in the January-February period, which was 2.2 percentage points higher compared with the same period of last year.

Retail sales in urban areas rose 15.3 percent to 980 billion yuan while in rural areas it jumped 13.4 percent to reach 470.3 billion yuan.

Wholesale and retail sector rose 14.6 percent, while catering and hotel figures were up 17.0 percent.

Grain and oil sales grew by 25.4 percent, automobiles were up 48.1 percent while oil and oil products rose by 28.4 percent.

Retail sales rose 13.7 percent to 7.641 trillion yuan in China last year, according to statistics from the NBS.