BEIJING - China's iron and steel industry has maintained solid growth momentum, posting notable rises in both operating income and profits from January to September.

Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed that the industry's total main operating income surged up by 14 percent from the same period last year to 5.66 trillion yuan ($816.7 billion).

The industry's aggregate profit during the period amounted to 358.7 billion yuan, up 65.3 percent year-on-year .

Large- and medium-sized enterprises contributed 3.06 trillion yuan to the total operating income and 230 billion yuan to profits. The two figures marked a rise of 14.5 percent and 86 percent respectively.

By the end of September, the debt ratio of large- and medium-sized enterprises dropped by 3.9 percentage points from a year earlier to 66.1 percent.

Thanks to the efforts in reducing overcapacity and the production ban on substandard steel, Chinese iron and steel producers have been able to sell their products abroad at better prices.

From January to September, China exported steel products of 53.08 million tons, down 10.7 percent year-on-year, but their aggregate export value has risen 6.1 percent year-on-year to 298.99 billion yuan.

The export price averaged 5,633 yuan per ton, up 18.8 percent from the same period last year.

This year, China's steel export was expected to stand around 70 million tons, said the ministry.

A separate report from the China Iron and Steel Industry Association said that pressure on the supply side would remain. In October, the country's daily output of crude steel averaged 2.66 million tons. Although the number dropped by 1.19 percent from the previous month, it remained to be the third highest in history.

As winter is usually a slow season, the association prompted local enterprises to carefully analyze the changes in demand to ensure the steady operation of the market.

It also pointed out that recovering manufacturing investment and infrastructure construction would boost steel demand, as the country had taken a series of measures to ease the capital shortage facing private firms.

"In general, the country's steel demand will hold steady," the report said.