The decline in China's industrial profits narrowed for the fifth straight month in July, thanks to improved corporate profitability and steady recovery in industrial production, official data showed on Sunday. 

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that industrial enterprises with annual revenue of at least 20 million yuan($2.7 million) each saw their total profits drop by 6.7 percent year-on-year in July after an 8.3 percent decline in June. 

For the January-July period, industrial firms' profits fell 15.5 percent year-on-year to 3.94 trillion yuan, narrowing from the 16.8 percent drop in the first half of this year, the bureau said. 

Industrial profits have narrowed their declines month by month since the beginning of this year, Sun Xiao, a statistician at the NBS, said in a statement on Sunday, adding that efforts will focus on implementing macro policies in a precise manner to expand effective demand, boost market confidence, stimulate market vitality and promote continued recovery in the industrial economy.

Among the 41 major industrial sectors surveyed, 13 sectors saw year-on-year growth in their profits during the first seven months, while 28 sectors saw declines in profits. 

During the January-July period, profits recorded by industrial firms that offer supply of electricity, heat, gas and water grew by 38 percent year-on-year, while profits recorded by mining firms and manufacturing companies shrank by 21 percent and 18.4 percent, respectively. 

Notably, profits of equipment manufacturing enterprises rose by 1.7 percent on a yearly basis during the January-July period. Meanwhile, profits of electrical machinery manufacturing firms jumped 33.7 percent during that period.