Great food is like great sex: The more you have, the more you want.

It's a saying that certainly applies to the Chinese, at least in the culinary sense, as recent figures show that people are spending more money on dining out.

A report released yesterday by the Ministry of Commerce shows that retail sales in the catering sector last year hit 1.03 trillion yuan ($132.9 billion), up 16.4 percent on 2005.

The figure accounts for 13.5 percent of the country's total retail sales of consumer goods and has raised the national consumer product retail volume by 2.2 percent. It has also helped create about 20 million jobs, the report says.

Meanwhile, ministry figures show that in the first two months of this year, retail sales in the sector reached 205.91 billion yuan ($26.6 billion), up 17 percent on the same period in 2006.

"It's expected the growth will continue for the rest of the year, to estimated annual sales of 1.21 trillion yuan ($156 billion)," the report says.

The figures equate to every Chinese spending 915 yuan ($118) on dining out this year, compared with 790 yuan ($102) last year.

In the United States and France, the equivalent figures are $1,600 and $1,050, respectively.

"So there is still plenty of room for growth, especially in the country's vast rural areas," the report says.

Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou topped last year's chart for retail sales in the catering sector, with Shanghai, Jinan and Qingdao in East China's Shandong Province recording the highest growth rates.

Foreign investment in the hotel and catering sector has also seen major growth, reaching $830 million last year, against $282 million in 2005.

However, ministry figures show that it has slowed this year. The number of foreign-funded hotels and catering projects gaining approval in the first two months fell 22 percent year-on-year to 103, with contracted foreign investment reaching $220 million, down 45.7 percent.

(China Daily 03/30/2007 page4)