According to official figures, China’s clothing sector recorded higher sales and profits in the first four months of the year.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the total operating income of large Chinese textile firms increased 13.4% year on year to 407.8 billion yuan (about 63.86 billion USD) from January to April. Meanwhile, overall earnings at 12,444 big clothing companies increased by 37.9% year on year to 18 billion yuan.

According to the government, the enterprises’ total output increased by 23.87 percent from a year earlier to nearly 7.05 billion pieces. China’s online retail sales of clothing goods increased 33.8 percent year over year in the first four months, according to the latest figures, while the country’s garment exports increased 51.7 percent year over year to 44.4 billion US dollars.