BEIJING - China's industrial textile industry has witnessed a significant increase in production, sales, profits and exports during the first five months of the year, due to soaring demand caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, official data showed.

Profits of industrial textile companies with annual revenues of more than 20 million yuan ($2.86 million) skyrocketed 189.08 percent year-on-year to 12.69 billion yuan from January to May, according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Their revenues jumped 13.25 percent from a year ago to 103.92 billion yuan.

During the first five months, China exported $34.29 billion worth of industrial textiles, including $22.56 billion of masks and $2.19 billion of protective clothing.