BEIJING — China's retail sales of consumer goods went up 16.4 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters this year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Oct 18.

The country's retail sales of consumer goods totaled around 31.8 trillion yuan (about $4.9 trillion) in Jan-Sept period, data from the NBS showed.

In September, China's total retail sales of consumer goods stood at 3.68 trillion yuan, up 4.4 percent year-on-year.

The figure increased by 7.8 percent from September 2019, putting the September average growth of the past two years at 3.8 percent, according to the NBS.

In the first three quarters, the catering industry saw a year-on-year increase of 29.8 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 18.5 percent year-on-year to reach about 9.19 trillion yuan in the Jan-Sept period.