Up to 12,000 Chinese machinery manufacturing companies reported losses during the first half, affected by the gloomy economy and weak demand, figures show.

This accounted for nearly 16 percent of all firms in the sector, according to the figures from the China Machinery Industry Federation on Tuesday.

The federation declined to give a figure for the losses, but said the number of firms with a deficit has fallen from 22 percent of the total at the start of the year to about 16 percent.

Cai Weici, vice-president of the federation, said machinery product prices have been weak since last year. "Prices are lower than for the first half last year and are still falling," Cai said.

Private companies reported a comparatively good performance during the first half, with revenue of 5.3 trillion yuan ($865 billion), up 16.47 percent year-on-year.

The private sector saw first-half profit of 304 billion yuan, a rise of 15.26 percent year-on-year.