BEIJING, June 1 -- China's electronics manufacturing industry posted a strong performance in the first four months of this year, driven by a steady increase in production and recovering domestic and global demand.

The combined profits of major companies in the sector soared 75.8 percent year on year to 144.2 billion yuan (about 20.3 billion U.S. dollars) in the January to April period, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

During the same period, the combined operating revenue of these firms stood at 4.67 trillion yuan, up 7.9 percent year on year.

The ministry attributed the robust expansion to the sound performance in both the supply and demand side of the sector.

From January to April, the value-added industrial output of the sector's major companies rose 13.6 percent from the same period a year earlier, up 7.3 percentage points from the country's overall industrial output growth rate.

According to customs data, China exported 44.01 million units of laptops in the first four months, rising 9.6 percent year on year. Exports of mobile phones came in at 241 million units, up 4.6 percent.

Major companies in the sector refer to those with an annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan.