BEIJING - China's digging machine producers reported strong sales in the first quarter of 2018, data from the China Construction Machinery Association has showed.

A total of 38,261 digging machines were sold in March, up 78.9 percent year on year, and digging machines sales in the first quarter rose 48.4 percent year-on-year to 60,061.

Digging machine sales in the domestic market went up 45.4 percent from a year earlier in Q1, while overseas sales surged 105.1 percent year on year.

Sales of digging machines are a telling indicator of the strength of a country's economic activity as growing demand for them is usually backed by booming mining and infrastructure development.

Chinese digging machine makers sold more than 140,000 excavators last year, surging 99.5 percent year on year.

In 2017, the Chinese economy achieved better-than-expected growth of 6.9 percent, underpinned by strong consumption, stable investment, and a comeback in exports.

China's economy kicked off 2018 on a strong note with better-than-expected data for the first two months.

Industrial output expanded at 7.2 percent year-on-year in the first two months, accelerating from 6.2 percent growth in December 2017, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Given the prospects for stable economic expansion, analysts estimate that digging machine sales in China might grow over 20 percent year-on-year to 170,000 in 2018.