Boosted by China's trade-in program for consumer products, the country saw strong growth in retail sales of cars, home appliances and electronic products in the first five months of this year, indicating steady growth in the overall consumption market, latest data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

The trade-in program has driven total retail sales of consumer goods in the country to 1.1 trillion yuan ($152.8 billion) , the ministry said on Sunday.

China has vowed to implement solid supporting measures to boost domestic consumption. The plan outlines the issuance of ultra-long special treasury bonds totaling 300 billion yuan to bolster the consumer goods trade-in program this year, double the figure in 2024.

In the first five months of this year, around 175 million units of subsidies were distributed directly to consumers with the trade-in program, according to the ministry.

Over the five-month period, there were more than 4.12 million applications for car trade-in subsidies. In addition, nearly 50 million consumers purchased home appliances through trade-in activities, and they bought over 77 million units of 12 types of household appliances, the ministry said.

During the same period, more than 53 million consumers bought 56 million digital products, including mobile phones. Meanwhile, over 6.5 million electric bicycles were traded for new ones, and consumers traded over 57 million home decoration, kitchen and bathroom products for new ones, the ministry said.