China's August retail sales increased 17.1 percent to 711.7 billion yuan or 95 billion U.S. dollars, which was up from 16.4 percent growth in July and was the fastest growth in over three years. The sales growth in apparel remained very impressive, given the weakness in retail apparel prices (retail prices fell .9 percent in August). August apparel retail sales surged 25.7 percent, which was the highest level since sales gains of 27.2 percent in January through March. Sales of most products were very strong, with furniture expanding 29.5 percent, home appliances increasing 19.2 percent and meat, eggs and poultry gaining 45.2 percent.