China's major industrial firms posted faster profit growth in the first eight months of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday.

The companies reported a 21.6 percent year-on-year profit increase in the eight-month period, up from 21.2 percent in the January-July period, the NBS said in a statement.

In August alone, profits of major industrial firms rose 24 percent year on year, much faster than the 16.5-percent growth in July, it said.