BEIJING — China's auto manufacturing sector rallied in the first eight months of 2020 as the auto market maintained its recovery momentum, industry data showed.

Profits of the auto manufacturing sector rose 1.5 percent year-on-year to 308.48 billion yuan (about $45.3 billion) from January to August, an improvement from the 5.9-percent drop seen in the January-July period, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The sector's profits accounted for 8.3 percent of all profits among industrial companies with annual revenues of more than 20 million yuan.

Business revenues in the sector stood at 4.79 trillion yuan, falling 1.8 percent year-on-year, narrowing 2.6 percentage points from the January-July period.

China's auto market, which was hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic, started to recover in April thanks to unleashed pent-up demand and supportive policies.