There's no stopping the retail boom as Shanghai's retail sales jumped 18.5 percent year on year in July to 37.7 billion yuan (US$5.48 billion), the highest figure recorded in a single month this year, the Shanghai Statistics Bureau said on Monday.

The city's fixed-asset investment gained 4.6 percent in the first seven months to register 239.5 billion yuan, up 2.3 percentage points from the first half of this year.

"Retail sales and fixed-asset investment have maintained a steady growth, but we can say that retail sales have seen much quicker expansion, much of it boosted by a hot summer," said Wu Yanrong, an analyst with the bureau.

July's spending patterns pushed up retail sales figures in the first seven months to 258 billion yuan, an increase of 17 percent over the previous year. This was an increase of 16.7 percent for the first half.

On the energy front, sales of petroleum and coal-related products registered 583 million yuan, an increase of 32.8 percent for the month. Sales rose despite the government raising the retail price of gasoline and diesel by up to 18 percent in June to reduce the gap between international and domestic prices. Electricity charges were also hiked to avoid power shortages in the summer.

The summer affected spending patterns significantly. The city's consumption of food products rose 18.9 percent to 15.1 billion yuan in July, while spending on fast-moving consumer goods jumped to 17.5 billion yuan, an increase of 18.5 percent. The hot days forced consumers to splurge more on comfort. Shanghai residents spent more money eating out and on entertainment to beat the heat, said Wu. Restaurant business swelled 19.8 percent to 5.4 billion yuan in July.

(Shanghai Daily August 19, 2008)