BEIJING — China's private and smaller industrial companies posted faster-than-average growth in industrial output during the first three quarters, an official said on Oct 22.

Industrial output of private, small- and medium-sized industrial enterprises jumped by 8 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively, with a 5.6-percent increase in the entire industrial sector, Huang Libin, spokesperson with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told a press conference.

Industrial output, officially called industrial value added, is used to measure the activity of enterprises with annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about $2.8 million).

The industrial sector maintained overall stability, as the 5.6-percent increase in industrial output is within the government's annual target of 5.5 to 6 percent and the decline in corporate profits has slowed down, Huang said.

In the first eight months, the profits of China's major industrial firms dropped 1.7 percent and the decrease rate was 0.7 percentage points lower than that in the first half, data showed.

More than 5 million private companies were set up during the first three quarters, up nearly 10 percent year on year. Private and smaller companies fared better than average, with their profits rising 6.6 percent and 5.7 percent year on year.

China cut private companies taxes by 820 billion yuan during the first eight months, which helped alleviate their financial burdens.

China will strengthen monitoring and analysis of economic development, expand domestic and overseas markets, and continue to improve business environment, Huang said.

"The performance of the industrial sector in the fourth quarter will be better than that in the third quarter, and we believe that we are on track to meet the annual target of 5.5 to 6 percent increase in industrial output," Huang noted.