BEIJING, Jan. 27 -- China's major industrial firms saw their combined profits increase for a fifth straight month in December 2023, official data showed on Saturday.

The profits of major industrial firms with annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.8 million U.S. dollars) increased by 16.8 percent year on year in December last year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

In 2023, the profits of major industrial firms reached 7.69 trillion yuan, down 2.3 percent year on year, with the pace of decline narrowing by 2.1 percentage points from the first 11 months.

Power, heating, gas, and water production and supply sectors emerged as top performers last year, with combined profits recording a remarkable year-on-year increase of 54.7 percent. The surge contributed 3.1 percentage points to the country's overall growth in industrial profits.

The profits of the equipment manufacturing sector increased by 4.1 percent in 2023, 2.4 percentage points higher than the growth rate registered in the previous year.

Among the 41 industrial categories monitored by the bureau, 27 recorded growth in profits, according to the NBS.