(Yicai Global) Aug. 14 -- The pace of retail sales of consumer goods in China decelerated in July from the previous month as car deliveries slackened further.

Consumer product sales rose 7.6 percent last month, compared with 9.8 percent in June, according to figures released today by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The slowdown was mainly due to declining auto sales as many cities have started implementing stricter vehicle emission standards, NBS spokesperson Liu Aihua said at a press conference this morning.

China began imposing tighter emissions standards last month, with dealers holding fire sales of older models to reduce inventories. Vehicle sales fell for a 13th month in a row in July, dropping 3.9 percent from a year earlier to 1.53 million units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on Aug. 12.

Excluding autos, sales of consumer goods jumped 8.8 percent last month, roughly the same pace as in the previous month, Liu said.

In the seven months through July, consumer product sales stood at CNY22.83 trillion (USD3.3 trillion), an 8.3 percent year-on-year gain. Minus vehicles, the figure was CNY20.61 trillion, an increase of 9.2 percent.