BEIJING — China's retail sales fell at a slower pace in May as domestic demand gradually improved, official data showed on June 15.

The country's retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of consumption growth, went down 6.7 percent from a year ago in May to 3.35 trillion yuan (about $496.16 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on June 15.

The decrease narrowed by 4.4 percentage points from the previous month, data showed.

In the January-May period, China's retail sales of consumer goods stood at 17.17 trillion yuan, down 1.5 percent year-on-year.

China's domestic demand has recovered last month, NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui said, attributing the smaller decline to improving the epidemic situation and business activities, as well as government policies designed to spur investment and consumption.

Last month, sales of daily necessities sustained steady growth. Beverage sales of major enterprises jumped 7.7 percent year-on-year in May, and sales of grain, edible oil and other food products rose 12.3 percent, NBS data showed.

Online consumption continued to shore up retail sales. In the first five months, online sales of physical goods climbed 5.6 percent, with its proportion of retail sales increasing.

Sales of major supermarkets grew 4 percent year-on-year in the January-May period, while that of convenience stores rose 4.7 percent from a year ago, data showed.

The catering sector, one of the sectors hit hard by COVID-19, saw its revenues fall 8.5 percent year-on-year in the first five months.

Fu expected consumption to become a stronger driver of China's economic growth, saying that consumption will recover at a faster pace as people's life return to normal.

"Although consumption is still recovering from the COVID-19 fallouts, the momentum will continue as epidemic prevention and control measures gradually take effect and the job market remains stable," Fu said.