An employee works at a textile plant in Qingdao, Shandong province. (LIANG XIAOPENG / FOR CHINA DAILY)

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

From January to February, the country's 13,042 major apparel companies raked in a total of 203.7 billion yuan (about $32 billion), up 12.2 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The total profits of these companies rose 5 percent year on year to 8.8 billion yuan, with the combined output expanding 1.4 percent year on year to 4.14 billion pieces.

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In the January-February period, the country's exports of garments and accessories increased 6.1 percent to $25.5 billion, data from the ministry showed.