BEIJING - China's authorities retrieved 980 million yuan ($149 million) for cheated buyers last year as the country stepped up efforts to protect consumers' rights, official figures showed on Monday.

In 2010, China's industry and commerce institutions found 94,000 cases of substandard food production and 110,000 cases of fake and shoddy product sales, according to figures released at a conference by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) ahead of international consumer rights day.

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Thousands of other cases of misconducts were discovered such as trademark infringements, unfair competition, deceptive advertising and pyramid selling, according to the SAIC.

Sellers involved in the cases were punished accordingly, it said.

"Over the past year, we have expanded the channels through which consumers can voice their grievances and great improvements have been made in the consumer complaints service," Wang Dongfeng, deputy head of the SAIC, said at the conference.

China's consumer complaints services received 5.21 million consumer queries in 2010 while 754,000 complaints were filed in the period, according the SAIC.

There are altogether 339 centers to deal with consumer complaints across the country and 22 provincial authorities had set up offices to research ways how to better protect consumers' rights, the SAIC said.

Chinese consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their rights in a time when the country aims to boost domestic consumption.