BEIJING, April 13  -- Total profits of China's major textile enterprises soared to 18.2 billion yuan (about 2.56 billion U.S. dollars) in the first two months of this year, official data showed.

The combined operating revenue of these firms stood at 675 billion yuan, rising 13.7 percent from a year ago, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The industrial output of major textile companies increased by 7.7 percent year on year.

China's textile and garment exports hit 45.1 billion U.S. dollars in the two-month period, up 14.3 percent year on year, the data also revealed.