BEIJING — China's beverage sales jumped 10.4 percent year-on-year in the first five months of the year, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

Retail sales of beverage products reached 93.8 billion yuan (about $14 billion) in the period, according to the ministry.

The output of China's major beverage manufacturers, each with annual revenue of at least 20 million yuan, edged down 0.5 percent from one year ago to 73.11 million metric tons in the first five months.

In May alone, these firms produced about 15.44 million tons of beverages, down 7 percent year-on-year, the data also showed.