BEIJING — Profits of China's major industrial companies saw accelerated growth in the first four months of this year as the country's economic recovery further firms up, official data showed on May 27.

Industrial firms with an annual business revenue of at least 20 million yuan (about $3.12 million) saw their combined profits surge 106 percent year-on-year in the January-April period to over 2.59 trillion yuan, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

When compared with the first four months of 2019, the figure represented a rise of 49.6 percent. The average growth rate in the past two years stood at 22.3 percent, NBS data showed.

The accelerated growth in industrial profits came as market demand continued to improve and major industrial firms had seen improved operations since the beginning of this year, said senior NBS statistician Zhu Hong.

In April alone, the profits of major industrial firms increased 57 percent year-on-year to 768.63 billion yuan.

All 41 industrial sectors saw increasing profits during the January-April period, with the profits of 10 sectors more than doubling, said Zhu.

Compared with the first four months of 2019, a total of 30 industrial sectors logged profit increases, according to Zhu.

During the January-April period, profits of the equipment and high-tech manufacturing sectors respectively jumped 90.8 percent and 88.5 percent year-on-year, while those of the auto manufacturing industry surged 158 percent.

The consumer goods manufacturing sector also saw improved profits, which rose 45.3 percent from the same period of last year, said Zhu.

Due to improving market demand and the rising prices of bulk commodities, the mining and raw materials manufacturing sectors saw faster profit growth, respectively rising 103 percent and 366 percent year-on-year.

The operations of industrial firms were further optimized, with rising profitability, declining costs and faster inventory turnovers, according to Zhu.

Though major industrial firms have sustained their growth momentum, Zhu noted that the recovery of the industrial economy needs to be further consolidated, taking into consideration the uncertainties of the external environment and the pressures on companies caused by rising commodity prices.

Efforts should be made to adopt targeted macro policies, increase the supply of bulk commodities and stabilize their prices to propel the sound development of the industrial sector, said Zhu.