BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's building materials sector saw profit improve during the first nine months of the year, official data showed.

Profits hit 323.4 billion yuan (about 46 billion U.S. dollars) during the nine months, up 12.2 percent year on year, according to data from the National Development and Reform Commission.

In breakdown, profits of the cement industry jumped by 25.3 percent from a year earlier, but the flat glass sector registered a year-on-year profit decline of 24.8 percent.

Data also showed that the output of China's building materials sector expanded steadily during the period.

The output of cement and flat glass gained 6.9 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.