BEIJING — China's chemical fiber industry registered strong expansion in the first 10 months of the year, as profits of major enterprises more than tripled from the same period last year.

Total profits of the sector's major companies with annual primary business revenues of more than 20 million yuan surged 275.6 percent year-on-year to 53.9 billion yuan (about $8.5 billion) in the period, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The combined operating revenue of these firms stood at 835.6 billion yuan, up 31.5 percent over one year earlier.

In the January-October period, the total output of the sector rose 11.8 percent year-on-year to 55.71 million metric tons, MIIT data showed.