BEIJING — China's chemical fiber industry recorded a surge in its profit in the first eight months of this year, according to official data.

From January to August, the total profits of major chemical fiber companies in China stood at 43.7 billion yuan (about $6.8 billion), up 384.5 percent year-on-year, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

The combined operating revenue of these companies increased by 35.7 percent from a year earlier to 656.7 billion yuan, according to the data.

The statistics also showed that the country's output of chemical fiber reached 45.2 million metric tons, up 15.6 percent year-on-year.