BEIJING, May 8 (Xinhua) -- The week-long May Day holiday has helped boost China's retail consumption, with retail sales of social consumer goods growing 16 percent from the previous year to 278 billion yuan (34.8 billion U.S. dollars), said the Ministry of Commerce on Monday.

    Between May 1 and 7, the country's "Golden Week" holiday, the sales volume of China's 1,000 key retailers monitored by the ministry reached nearly 50 billion yuan (6.25 billion dollars), a growth of 18 percent.

    Business was especially brisk in big department stores, supermarkets, telecommunications equipment stores and shops selling garments and building materials, as well as in home appliance chain stores, said the Ministry.

    The business volume of the catering industry increased by 18 percent during the "Golden Week" holiday, it said.

    Another report said the business volume of China's catering industry in 2006 is expected to exceed one trillion yuan (125 billion dollars).

    The ministry's data showed the business volume in catering sector stood at 888.68 billion yuan (about 110 billion dollars) last year, with the employment of 20 million people. Enditem