China's major industrial firms reported a smaller profit decline in June 2023, official data showed Thursday.

Industrial firms with annual revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.8 million) saw their combined profits amount to 719.76 billion yuan last month, down 8.3 percent from a year ago but narrowing from the 12.6-percent drop in May, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

With policies promoting economic growth taking effect, industrial production recovered steadily and enterprise profits continued to improve, said NBS statistician Sun Xiao.

In the first half of the year, profits of the industrial firms went down 16.8 percent year on year, narrowing by 4.6 percentage points compared to the first quarter.

Equipment manufacturers saw combined profits rise 3.1 percent in the first six months, surging by 20.8 percentage points from the first quarter and reversing the decline.

"Profits in equipment manufacturing continued to improve, with automobile manufacturing, transportation equipment manufacturing, electrical equipment manufacturing, as well as measuring instrument and meter manufacturing remaining the main drivers of profit recovery," Bruce Pang, chief economist and head of research at JLL Greater China told CGTN.

With the continuous improvement of market expectations, profits of major industrial firms are expected to grow again in the fourth quarter, said Pang.

(With input from Xinhua)