BEIJING -- China's beverage production and sales registered stable growth during the first four months of the year, official data shows.

In the January-April period, major beverage firms produced 57.9 million tons of beverages, up 1 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

In April, the beverage output of these companies topped 14.1 million tons, down 8.5 percent year-on-year.

Major producers are companies with an annual revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.97 million).

China's beverage retail sales climbed 10.4 percent year-on-year to 93.8 billion yuan in the first four months of the year, according to earlier data.