China's industrial sector is likely to maintain steady operation over the rest of the year on the back of good momentum during the first half, a senior official said Tuesday.

There are more signs that China's industrial sector is firming up, Zheng Lixin, an official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at a press conference.

He cited figures that China's value-added industrial output expanded 6.9 percent year on year in the first half of this year, the best level in the past three years.

"Backed by government-led initiatives such as the supply-side structural reform, upstream industries have witnessed significant profit growth and improvement in corporate performance," he said.

In the first five months, China's major industrial firms reported a 22.7-percent profit increase from one year earlier, official data showed.

Zheng also noted progress in both the upgrading of traditional industries and the development of emerging industries.

New economies like "Internet Plus" and the sharing economy have brought potential to traditional industries, and industrial upgrading has become a major force in consolidating economic development, he said.

The official also pointed out that there are still structural contradictions in economic development, and some industrial firms continue to have difficulties in financing.

For the second half of the year, Zheng said the ministry will enhance monitoring on industrial operation and deal with new situations and issues that are likely to emerge in the future.

The Chinese economy continued steady expansion in the first half of this year with GDP up 6.9 percent year on year to about 38.15 trillion yuan (5.6 trillion U.S. dollars), official data showed.