BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's industrial economy is showing more positive signs of recovery despite a profit decline in the first nine months of this year.

Major industrial firms, each with an annual business revenue of at least 20 million yuan (2.79 million U.S. dollars), saw their profits down 2.3 percent year on year in the first nine months to 6.24 trillion yuan, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Thursday.

In September, the profit decline of the major industrial firms narrowed by 6 percentage points from a month earlier, the data showed.

The combined revenues of industrial firms sustained relatively quick growth during the period, rising 8.2 percent year on year to 100.17 trillion yuan.

Highlighting the improvement in business profit structure, the bureau's senior statistician Zhu Hong noted that the performance of industrial firms was gaining recovery momentum as the country's pro-growth policies took effect.

A total of 19 out of 41 major industries saw growth in profits in the January-September period. Equipment manufacturing returned to growth with a 0.6 percent increase year on year, led by the electrical machinery sector, which saw its profits surge 25.3 percent.

Automobile manufacturing achieved profit growth of 47.4 percent year on year in September, boosted by smooth industrial and supply chains and production growth of the new energy vehicles, Zhu said.

Due partly to rising demands for electricity and slower growth in coal prices, the profits of electricity firms rose 11.4 percent in the January-September period, reversing the decline that had lasted for more than a year, Zhu noted.

The mining sector continued to witness soaring profits, driven by high prices in commodities, Zhu said.

Zhu also pointed out that the operation of private and small businesses kept improving, with their profits up 1.5 percent year on year during the period.

Thursday's data also showed that the total assets of industrial firms stood at 152.64 trillion yuan at the end of September, up 9.5 percent from a year earlier.

Despite the positive changes, Zhu still cautioned against challenges, including relatively high costs for businesses and a complex external environment.

To consolidate the recovery momentum of the industrial economy, more efforts should be put into shoring up the real economy, efficiently coordinating epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development, and advancing the implementation of pro-growth policies and measures, Zhu said.