BEIJING - China's chemical fiber industry registered shrinking revenue and profits in the first four months of the year, but the decline was narrowing, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) showed.

From January to April, the combined operating revenue of major chemical fiber companies - each with an annual operating revenue of 20 million yuan ($2.82 million) - dropped by 19.96 percent year-on-year to 220.6 billion yuan, the MIIT data showed.

The contraction narrowed by 5.4 percentage points from the decline in the first quarter (Q1).

Meanwhile, profits of these enterprises shrank by 60.44 percent to 3.17 billion yuan from the same period last year, with the fall narrowing by 1.86 percentage points compared with the decrease in Q1.

The output of China's chemical fiber industry was down by 4.97 percent to 17.5 million tons in the first four months of the year, with the decline narrowing by 4.99 percentage points compared with the decrease in Q1, according to the ministry.