Beijing: Retail sales of gold, silver and jewellery continued its winning streak in China, recording a 7.9 percent increase in the first quarter of 2017, data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China showed.

Sales reached RMB 80.5 billion (around US$11.7 billion) from January to March, indicating a continued rebound in the jewellery consumption sector.

Government data also showed that jewellery retail sales were up 7.2 percent to RMB 23.6 billion (around US$3.42 billion) for March alone.

China’s jewellery retail sales have been on the uptrend since December 2016, throughout January and February this year. Sales in this category increased 8.2 percent in the first two months of the year to RMB 56.9 billion (around US$8.26 billion) compared to the same period in 2016.

Major jewellery retailers earlier reported seeing signs of improvement in China’s jewellery retail sector, citing strong performance of gem-set jewellery products as well as stabilising economic fundamentals in the country.