Profits of China's major industrial firms declined 4 percent year on year in 2022, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday.

Industrial firms with annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($3 million) saw their combined profits reach 8.4 trillion yuan in 2022, while their combined revenues rose 5.9 percent year on year to 137.9 trillion yuan.

A total of 21 out of 41 major industries saw growth in profits last year, the NBS said. The oil and gas exploration sector saw profits surge 110 percent, while the coal mining and washing industry reported a 44-percent hike.

However, the manufacturing industry's profit dropped 13.4 percent compared to 2021, according to NBS.

Senior NBS statistician Zhu Hong said the overall decline in industrial profits was mainly due to sharp drops in earnings for the iron and steel processing, petroleum processing, and vaccine manufacturing industries.

Despite the decline, the business profit structure of industrial firms continued to improve, but the recovery of their profitability still faces challenges from uncertainties both domestically and internationally, according to Zhu.

(With input from Xinhua)