This Feb 24, 2017 photo shows workers carrying a monocrystalline silicon stick at a factory in Ningjin county, north China's Hebei province. (MU YU / XINHUA)

BEIJING - Profits of China's major industrial firms continued to fall in the first four months of 2020, but the decline was seen to narrow amid government efforts to coordinate COVID-19 containment and economic growth, data showed Wednesday.

The contraction narrowed from the 36.7-percent decline in the first quarter, NBS data showed

Profits of industrial companies with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan (about US$2.8 million) totaled 1.26 trillion yuan during the January-April period, down 27.4 percent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The contraction narrowed from the 36.7-percent decline in the first quarter, NBS data showed.

In April alone, industrial profits edged down 4.3 percent, recovering from the 34.9-percent drop registered in March as production and sales rebounded on nationwide restoration of economic activities, NBS statistician Zhu Hong noted.

READ MORE: China's industrial profits fall 36.7% in Q1 under virus strain

Increasing investment returns last month as well as a low comparison base last year also contributed to the improvement, Zhu added.

Despite the recovery, business profitability situation remained "not optimistic" as yet-to-recover market demand, retreating industrial prices and cost pressure would combine to weigh on profits, Zhu stressed.