BEIJING -- China's auto manufacturing sector saw the decline in its profits narrow in the first seven months of 2020 as the auto market maintained recovery momentum, industry data showed.

The sector's profits fell 5.9 percent year-on-year to 251.45 billion yuan ($36.5 billion), narrowing 14.8 percentage points from the drop seen in the first half of the year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The sector's profits accounted for 8.1 percent of the total profits among industrial companies with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan, up 0.5 percentage points from the share for the January-June period.

Business revenue of the sector stood at 4.07 trillion yuan, edging down 4.4 percent year-on-year, narrowing 3.6 percentage points from the first half.

CAAM data also showed the July's automobile output reached 2.2 million, up 21.9 percent year-on-year, while sales hit 2.1 million, up 16.4 percent year-on-year.

China's auto market, which was hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic, started to recover in April, thanks to unleashed pent-up demand and supportive policies.