BEIJING, July 10 (Xinhua) -- China’s garment industry maintained steady expansion in the first five months of the year, reporting rises in revenue, profits and output, official data shows.

From January to May, the combined operating revenue of 12,451 major enterprises in the sector reached 525.1 billion yuan (about 81.1 billion U.S. dollars), up 13.29 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). 

These enterprises raked in total profits of 23.5 billion yuan in the period, jumping 27.87 percent year on year, while the output of the companies rose 20.89 percent over one year earlier to 9.075 billion pieces, MIIT data shows.

The latest statistics also show that China’s online retail sales of clothing products climbed 28.2 percent year on year in the first five months, while the country’s exports of garment and accessories surged 48.3 percent year on year to 56.6 billion U.S. dollars.