Workers weld at a workshop of an automobile manufacturing enterprise in Qingzhou City, east China's Shandong Province, Feb. 28, 2021. (Photo by Wang Jilin/Xinhua)

Profits of China's major industrial firms maintained sound growth momentum in the first 10 months of the year as industrial production continued to recover and business operations continued improvements, official data showed Saturday.

Industrial firms with annual business revenues of at least 20 million yuan (about 3.1 billion U.S. dollars) saw their combined profits soaring 42.2 percent year on year in the January-October period to top 7.16 trillion yuan, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

The volume surged 43.2 percent compared with the 2019 level, putting the average January-October growth for 2020 and 2021 at 19.7 percent.

In the first 10 months, 32 out of 41 industries saw a year-on-year expansion in their profits, while eight others logged declines.

In October alone, major industrial companies raked in profits of 818.74 billion yuan, up 24.6 percent year on year, quickening from the 16.3-percent gain reported in September, NBS data showed.

The profit growths of the mining sector and the raw material manufacturing industry accelerated markedly in October, said senior NBS statistician Zhu Hong.

Driven by soaring prices of means of production, the two industries saw profits increase by 2.81 times and 56.1 percent year on year last month, both significantly higher than the industrial average.

Thanks to robust demands, the profit of the consumer goods manufacturing industry swung back to growth in October, increasing 3.6 percent year on year.

Besides, the high-tech manufacturing sector maintained rapid profit growth last month, rising 17.4 percent from a year earlier.

Zhu, however, noted that some downstream industries are still under huge cost pressures, which may weigh on their profitability.

The country will enhance cross-cyclical adjustments, work to balance supply and demand, and help market entities overcome difficulties in a bid to promote the sustained and steady development of the industrial economy, Zhu said.