BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) -- China’s home appliances sector saw steady expansion in the first five months of the year, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

The industry’s combined profits during the period rose 16.6 percent year on year to 39.69 billion yuan (about 6.13 billion U.S. dollars), according to the ministry.

The operating revenue of the industry reached 668.92 billion yuan during the period, up 38 percent from a year earlier.

In the first five months, China’s output of household refrigerators grew 29.2 percent year on year to 37.12 million units, while the production of washing machines went up 37.3 percent to 36.18 million units, the data showed.