BEIJING — China's garment industry saw its sales grow steadily in the first half of the year despite slower expansion of the sector.

Retail sales of garment enterprises each with an annual operating revenue of 20 million yuan rose 2.7 percent year on year to reach 475 billion yuan (about $68.5 billion) in H1, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

These enterprises saw their output shrink 1.1 percent to a total of 10.4 billion pieces in the first half of the year, according to the ministry.

During the same period, online retail sales of apparels went up 21.4 percent from a year ago, while exports of clothing and accessories edged down 4.7 percent year on year to $66.6 billion, MIIT data showed.

In H1, such garment enterprises reported combined operating revenues of 761.6 billion yuan, up 2.2 percent year on year, while the profits of these companies dropped 0.8 percent to 38.2 billion yuan during the period.