BEIJING - China's excavator sales, a barometer of the vitality of infrastructure development, posted steady expansion last year, with exports of the equipment booming, industry data showed.

The country's 25 leading excavator makers exported 68,427 excavators in 2021, nearly doubling the volume registered in 2020, partly due to robust overseas demand, data from the China Construction Machinery Association showed.

Some 274,357 excavators were sold in the domestic market, bringing China's total excavator sales in 2021 to 342,784 units, a yearly increase of 4.6 percent, according to the association.

Last month alone, total sales of excavators fell 23.8 percent year-on-year to 24,038 units, while exports amounted to 8,615 units, logging a sharp rise of 104.6 percent.