BEIJING — China’s retail sales of consumer goods grew 10.9 percent year on year in September, slightly higher than 10.8 percent for August, official data showed on Oct 19.

The figure marked the highest rate of growth since the beginning of this year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In the first three quarters, total sales rose 10.5 percent from a year earlier to 21.61 trillion yuan ($3.4 trillion).

In the same period, retail sales in rural areas expanded by 11.7 percent, outpacing the rate of 10.3 percent for sales in urban areas.

Online sales surged by 36.2 percent to 2.59 trillion yuan from January to September, totaling about 12 percent in gross retail sales, the NBS said.