BEIJING, July 27 -- China's major industrial firms reported a smaller profit decline in June, official data showed Thursday.

Industrial firms with annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.81 million U.S. dollars) saw their combined profits stand at 719.76 billion yuan last month, down 8.3 percent from a year ago, narrowing from the 12.6-percent drop in May.

With policies promoting economic growth taking effect, industrial production continued to improve, and business profits maintained the recovery trend last month, said NBS statistician Sun Xiao.

In the first half of the year, the profits of Chinese industrial firms went down 16.8 percent year on year, narrowing by 4.6 percentage points from the first quarter.

During the January-June period, the manufacturing sector posted a better performance, with its profit decline narrowing by 9.4 percentage points from the first quarter.

Equipment manufacturers saw combined profits rise 3.1 percent in the first six months, surging by 20.8 percentage points from the first quarter and reversing the decline.

Output of emerging products such as photovoltaic devices, lithium-ion batteries and new-energy vehicles surged, helping profits of electrical machinery and automobiles increase by 29.1 percent and 10.1 percent, respectively.

Market demand was gradually unleashed thanks to an array of supportive policies, making most consumer goods manufacturing industries see better profits. In June, the leather shoe-making sector saw its industrial profits increase by 1.07 times, while the profits of enterprises in the chemical fiber industry went up 21.2 percent year on year, Sun said.

Meanwhile, the power, heating, gas, and water production and supply sectors saw rapid growth, with their profits up 34.1 percent from a year earlier.

Noting that industrial profits will maintain the recovery momentum, Sun said that efforts should be made to smooth channels between production and sales, invigorate the vitality of business entities and cultivate new growth drivers in the next stage to promote the high-quality development of the industrial economy