Photo taken on May 9, 2017 shows an automated system for shifting garments at a kid garment enterprise in Zhili town, Huzhou city, east China's Zhejiang province. (XU YU/XINHUA)

BEIJING – China's garment industry registered a growth in operating revenue in the first five months of this year, official data showed.

From January to May, the country's 13,053 major apparel companies raked in a total of 561.1 billion yuan (about $83.9 billion), up 6.1 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

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The total profits of these companies dropped 4.6 percent year on year to 23.3 billion yuan. The combined output expanded 0.5 percent year on year to 9.3 billion pieces.

In the January-May period, the country's exports of garments and accessories increased 10.2 percent to $62.2 billion, data from the ministry showed.