Shandong Province reported 321.5 billion yuan (39.64 billion US dollars) of retail sales in the first eight months this year, up 16.2 percent over last year's same period, the latest statistics have shown.

　　According to the provincial statistics bureau, the retail sales on urban markets of county-level and above surged by 17.1 percent year on year to reach 241.99 billion yuan (29.83 billion US dollars) in the January-August period. The retail sales on rural markets went up by 13.6 percent year on year to reach 79.51 billion yuan (9.8 billion US dollars) in the eight-month period.

　　The catering sector reported sales of 38.24 billion yuan (4.71 billion US dollars) in the eight-month period, a rise of 19.2 percent year on year. ()