BEIJING, May 16 -- China's retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of the country's consumption strength, surged 18.4 percent year on year in April, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday.

In the January-April period, the country's retail sales of consumer goods increased 8.5 percent year on year, according to the NBS.

It totaled 14.98 trillion yuan (about 2.16 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first four months of 2023.