BEIJING, June 15 -- China's retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of the country's consumption strength, surged 12.7 percent year on year in May, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Thursday.

In the January-May period, the country's retail sales of consumer goods increased 9.3 percent year on year, according to the NBS.

It totaled 18.76 trillion yuan (about 2.62 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first five months of 2023.