BEIJING — Profits of China's major industrial firms continued rapid growth in the first 11 months of 2021, the latest signal that the country's economy is set to finish the pandemic-hit year on a strong note.

Industrial firms with annual business revenues of at least 20 million yuan (about $3.14 million) saw their combined profits up 38 percent year-on-year in the January-November period to 7.98 trillion yuan, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement on Dec 27.

The average growth of industrial profits in the January-November period for 2020 and 2021 came in at 18.9 percent.

In November alone, major industrial companies raked in profits of 805.96 billion yuan, up 9 percent year-on-year, the statement showed.

The sound industrial profits registered over most of the year offered further evidence that the economy has held steady despite challenges at home and abroad.

Breaking down the data, senior NBS statistician Zhu Hong highlighted the improvement in the business profit structure, saying that curbed rising momentum in the prices of some raw materials eased pressure on downstream producers.

"Equipment and consumer goods production contributed more to the aggregate industrial profits...and an increasing number of sectors reported profit increases," Zhu said.

Consumer goods production reported more profits for a second straight month in November, led by the apparel and food sectors, and equipment manufacturing returned to positive gains with a slight profit increase.

Due to high prices in commodities, the mining sector continued to witness soaring profits, albeit with a milder growth rate, and remained a major driving force for the broader industrial profit growth.

Zhu also stressed that the operation of private and small businesses kept improving thanks to an array of relief measures from tax breaks to financing support by the government, adding that their profit growth came in stronger than the industrial average.

The figures also showed that in the first 11 months, the combined revenues of industrial firms went up 20.3 percent from a year ago to 114.31 trillion yuan, and 33 out of 41 industries saw expansion in their profits. By the end of November, the total assets of industrial firms stood at 141.07 trillion yuan, up 9.8 percent from a year earlier.

Despite the improving operation conditions, Zhu still cautioned of challenges including relatively high costs for businesses and said more efforts are required to help industrial firms.

Precise and targeted support for manufacturing businesses, in particular small, medium-sized and micro firms, should be stronger in a bid to stimulate the vitality of market entities, Zhu said.