BEIJING, April 27 -- Profits of China's major industrial firms rose 11.1 percent year on year in March, widening from a 4.8 percent growth in the Jan.-Feb. period, official data showed on Wednesday.

The profits of major industrial companies with annual revenues of more than 20 million yuan (about 3.1 million U.S. dollars) totaled 561.24 billion yuan in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

In the first three months of 2016, the profits of these firms rose 7.4 percent year on year to 1.3 trillion yuan.

He Ping, an official with the NBS Department of Industry, attributed the profits growth to increased sales, a milder decline in factory product prices as well as government efforts to lower enterprises' costs.

The producer price index, a measure of costs for goods at the factory gate, dropped 4.3 percent year on year in March, narrowing from a 4.9-percent drop in February and a 5.3-percent drop in January.

In March, revenues from the major industrial companies' primary business climbed 4.6 percent year on year, the quickest growth in three years, improving from a 1-percent increase in the Jan.-Feb. period, said the NBS.

Aside from the recovery, part of the industrial profits growth was a result of the lower base in the same period of last year, He noted.

The official also noted that the profits growth in March was mainly concentrated in a few sectors. The profits of five sectors including computer communication, auto manufacturing and pharmaceutical manufacturing accounted for 88.8 percent of the total industrial profits.