China's retail sales of consumer goods rose 18.3 percent in the first three quarters year on year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.

The retail sales of consumer goods in the January-September period totaled 11.1 billion yuan, NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun said at a press conference.

Retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas rose 18.7 percent to 9.6 trillion yuan, while the retail sales in rural areas rose 15.8 percent to 1.5 trillion yuan, according to the NBS.

The catering sector reported total revenues of 1.26 trillion yuan, up 17.6 percent year on year, while the retail goods trade was 9.84 trillion yuan, up 18.4 percent from a year earlier.

Sheng also said retail sales of automobiles were up 34.9 percent in the first three quarters, in line with sales figures released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) last week.

The CAAM said auto sales in China rose 35.97 percent from a year earlier to 13.14 million units in the first nine months, close to the total number of vehicles sold last year, when China overtook the United States to become the world's largest auto market.