BEIJING — China's plastic industry registered profit growth in the first five months of the year, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) showed.

Manufacturers of plastic products raked in 38.04 billion yuan (about $5.39 billion) in total profits in the January-May period, up 12 percent year-on-year, according to the MIIT.

The total operating revenue of these companies went down 9 percent from the previous year to 665.81 billion yuan during the period.

MIIT data also showed the national output of plastic products stood at 27.55 million metric tons in the first five months, decreasing by 4.2 percent year-on-year.

Bucking the trend, the output rose 9.2 percent year-on-year in May to 6.69 million tons.