China’s retail sector is continuing to expand faster than in any other major market in the world – but the growth rate continues to slow.

The National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday that China retail sales grew 10.7 per cent year on year to 4.8 trillion yuan (US$779 billion) in the first two months of 2015.

That’s a full 1.3 percentage points slower than the annual growth rate for 2014.

According to the bureau, the restaurant and catering sector achieved an 11.2 per cent year-on-year sales rise in revenue and sales of ‘other consumer products’ increased by 10.7 per cent.

Online retail sales soared 44.6 per cent year on year to 475.1 billion yuan.

Analysts attributed the slowing growth rate to sluggish property sales (reducing demand for housewares and furniture, etc) and the ongoing government clampdown on corruption and gift-giving, as well as general economic malaise.

The growth rate was lower than the 11.7 per cent consensus of analysts prior to the bureau’s announcement.