BEIJING — China's consumption continued recovery momentum in July as domestic demand firmed up, official data showed on Aug 16.

The country's retail sales of consumer goods totaled 3.49 trillion yuan (about $540 billion) in July, up 8.5 percent year-on-year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

Retail sales in July were 7.2 percent higher from the level in July 2019. The two-year average growth was 3.6 percent.

In the Jan-July period, retail sales surged 20.7 percent year-on-year, with the two-year average growth standing at 4.3 percent, according to the NBS.

In the first seven months, the catering industry saw a year-on-year increase of 42.3 percent in revenue, as the hardest-hit sector continued to recover from COVID-19 disruptions.

Online consumption remained a bright spot, with online retail sales rising 21.9 percent year-on-year to reach about 7.11 trillion yuan in the Jan-July period.