China's catering section retail sales reached RMB888.68 billion in 2005, a year-on-year increase of 17.7%, or a net growth of RMB133.6 billion.

Figures published by the Ministry of Commerce showed that the industry has maintained double-digit growth for 15 consecutive years.

The increase of China's catering retail sales in 2005 over the previous year is 4.8 percentage points higher than the growth in China's retail sales of consumer goods, said the ministry.

Statistics also show that retail sales from catering accounted for 13.2% of the country's total retail sales of consumer goods last year.

Sources with the ministry said China's catering section achieved RMB48.878 billion in taxes in 2005, a year-on-year increase of 17.8%.

In 2005, the number of newly approved foreign-funded catering projects dropped 1.23% year-on-year to 894, with the contractual use of foreign funds totaling US$1.041 billion, up 6.71%.