China's garment industry maintains expansion in Jan.-Sept.

BEIJING, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's garment industry continued its streak of expansion in the first three quarters of the year, reporting growth in production, revenue and profit, official data showed.

From January to September, the combined operating revenue of 12,557 major garment companies was nearly 1.05 trillion yuan (about 163.9 billion U.S. dollars), up 9 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Total profits of these companies rose 5.8 percent from the same period last year to hit 45.7 billion yuan, with the combined output expanding 9.3 percent year on year to 17.1 billion pieces.

China's online retail sales of garments climbed 15.6 percent year on year in the period, and its exports of garments and accessories surged 25.3 percent to 122.4 billion U.S. dollars, the MIIT data showed.