BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- China's major industrial firms experienced a decline in profits during the first quarter of 2023, but signs of recovery emerged with demand on the mend, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Thursday.

Industrial firms with annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.9 million U.S. dollars) saw their combined profits reach about 1.52 trillion yuan in the period, down 21.4 percent year on year, the NBS said.

In March alone, profits of major industrial firms declined 19.2 percent year on year, narrowing 3.7 percentage points from that in the first two months, said NBS statistician Sun Xiao.

The combined revenues of major industrial firms increased by 0.6 percent year on year, reversing a decline of 1.3 percent from January to February, as market demand recovered.

The equipment manufacturing sector witnessed a year-on-year increase of 5.4 percent in terms of revenue in March, while profit fell 7 percent, narrowing by 19.1 percentage points from that in the first two months.

Driven by rising production and sales, profits of automobile manufacturing firms climbed 9.1 percent in March, in sharp contrast to a decrease of 41.7 percent in the January-February period.

The power production and supply sector reported a profit increase of 41.9 percent in March from a year earlier, driven by the booming demand fueled by economic recovery.

Warming consumption helped consumer product firms achieve better profits. The profits of liquor, beverage and refined tea manufacturers surged by 39.9 percent year on year.

To accelerate the recovery of industrial profits, Sun urged efforts to expand market demand, perk up confidence and give enterprises reason to feel positive about the future.