BEIJING - China's excavator sales logged steady year-on-year growth in July, reversing a streak of contraction since May 2021, industry data showed.

The country's 26 excavator manufacturers sold 17,939 units last month, up 3.4 percent from the same period last year, according to the China Construction Machinery Association.

The companies' exports surged 72.8 percent year-on-year to 8,689 units, beating the 58.4 percent year-on-year increase seen in June.

In the first seven months of the year, China's excavator sales dropped 33.2 percent year-on-year to 161,033 units, narrowing from the 36.1 percent decline in the first half, said the association.

The sales contraction was mainly due to the high base last year, which is hard to surpass, said Lyu Ying from the association.

Deemed a barometer of the vitality of infrastructure development, sales of digging machines are usually backed by growth in mining and infrastructure construction.

China has ramped up efforts to expand investment in infrastructure construction this year. It has unveiled a package of detailed policy measures to further stabilize the economy, including accelerating some approved water conservancy projects and speeding up investment in transportation infrastructure.