BEIJING — China's major bicycle manufacturers posted strong performance in 2020, with their combined profit and revenue both registering double-digit growth, official data showed.

Bike manufacturers with annual operating revenue of over 20 million yuan (about $3.1 million) raked in 7.53 billion yuan in profits last year, up 13.6 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The combined operating revenue of the firms rose 16.2 percent over one year earlier to 176.2 billion yuan, MIIT data showed.

In breakdown, the total profit derived from the two-wheeled bike manufacturing of the firms jumped 17.3 percent year-on-year, while that for electric bike manufacturing registered 8.3-percent yearly growth.

Demand for bikes boomed last year, as cycling became more popular worldwide amid the COVID-19 pandemic when many people looked for an alternative to crowded buses and subways and sought new means of exercising.

China's output of two-wheeled bikes jumped 24.3 percent year-on-year to 44.37 million units in 2020, while electric bike production surged 29.7 percent year-on-year to 29.66 million units, MIIT data showed.