Profits of China's major industrial firms slipped 2.3 percent year on year in the first nine months of 2022, official data showed on Thursday.

Industrial firms, each with an annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan, saw their combined profits reach 6.24 trillion yuan ($865.38 billion) in the period, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

Meanwhile, the equipment manufacturing industry reversed a downward trend with profits increasing 0.6 percent from last year, logging the first growth in 2022.

NBS said the operating income of these major industrial firms maintained rapid growth during the period, increasing 8.2 percent on a yearly basis. 

In light of pressures of relatively high costs, operation difficulties, and a complex international political and economic situation, the continuous recovery of industrial enterprises still remains a challenge, said Zhu Hong, a senior statistician at the NBS.

The decline in profits of private and foreign-funded enterprises narrowed in the first nine months, while the profit growth of small- and medium-sized enterprises accelerated.

Driven by factors such as the expanding electricity demand and the slowdown in coal price increases, the power industry's profit jumped 11.4 percent year-on-year, reversing the downward trend of over a year.

High commodity prices continue to boost the mining industry's profit. The sector logged a 76 percent year-on-year surge in profit.

Zhu emphasized the need to implement a host of policies and measures in stabilizing the economy and consolidating the upward recovery trend of the industrial sector.

China has introduced a slew of measures to shore up the economy since late May, ranging from fiscal and monetary policies to trade facilitation. The country's third-quarter GDP grew by 3.9 percent compared with a year earlier, beating market expectations.