Beijing reported surging growth in industrial profits in the first quarter of 2021 amid economic recovery from the COVID-19 epidemic early last year.

Profits of major industrial firms in the Chinese capital totaled 65.32 billion yuan (about 10.1 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-March period, up 3.2 times year on year, according to the Beijing municipal statistics bureau.

Industrial firms with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan generated total revenues of 641.85 billion yuan in the three months, a year-on-year increase of 41.9 percent, the bureau said.

Companies funded by foreign investors as well as those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan raked in 34.78 billion yuan in combined profits, up 3.6 times year on year.

A total of 33 out of 39 industrial sectors reported year-on-year profit growth in the period. Profits of the pharmaceutical and auto industries surged 6.8 times and 2.7 times to 29.15 billion yuan and 10.09 billion yuan, respectively. Profits of computing, telecommunications and other electronic equipment sectors soared 5.5 times to 5.16 billion yuan.