China's catering industry exceeds 4 trln yuan in 2018

Visitors enjoy tea during an outdoor tea gathering marking "Lixia", the beginning of summer in the Chinese lunisolar calendar, in Hengyang, central China's Hunan Province, May 5, 2018. China's food and beverage (F&B) industry posted a record high of 4.27 trillion yuan (636 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue in 2018, the China Cuisine Association said Sunday. The F&B industry revenue accounted for 11.2 percent of the total volume of retail sales last year, up 0.4 percentage points from 2017, said Jiang Junxian, president of the association. The F&B industry also contributed 20.9 percent to consumption growth in 2018, he said. (Xinhua/Xia Wenhui)