BEIJING (Xinhua) -- Official data showed that China 's major furniture manufacturers reported an increase in profits in the first half of this year.

During the period, the total profits of major Chinese furniture companies reached 17.48 billion yuan (about 2.6 billion US dollars), up 2.6 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The data showed that the combined operating income of those companies fell 4 percent from last year to 360.4 billion yuan.

The largest furniture manufacturers are those with annual operating income of at least 20 million yuan.